Mediaboss Marketing

The strategic partnership between the European Union and Kazakhstan, which was agreed on in November, has come into effect as both sides' representatives have outlined their future course of action, the European Commission stated on Friday

MOSCOW (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 19th May, 2023) The strategic partnership between the European Union and Kazakhstan, which was agreed on in November, has come into effect as both sides' representatives have outlined their future course of action, the European Commission stated on Friday.

In early November, Kazakh Prime Minister Alikhan Smailov and European Commission (EC) President Ursula von der Leyen signed a memorandum of understanding which established a partnership between Kazakhstan and the EU. The agreement focused on the areas of the future collaboration and envisioned taking concrete steps half a year after the signing.

"Today, Executive Vice-President Valdis Dombrovskis, on behalf of the European Commission, and Alikhan Smailov ... announced a set of concrete actions that will implement the Memorandum of Understanding ... between the EU and Kazakhstan on strategic partnership in the field of raw materials, batteries and renewable hydrogen," the EC's statement read.

The announcement was made after an exchange of opinions through letters between Smailov and von der Leyen, the statement added.

The roadmap implies, in particular, the joint realization of investment projects, close collaboration on geological research and the development of a set of proper skills and capacity under the EU Horizon program, the EC said.

"The partnership builds on the existing enhanced partnership and cooperation agreement (EPCA) and aims to jointly develop and better integrate EU and Kazakh strategic value chains related to raw materials, to batteries and to renewable hydrogen. The benefits of closer cooperation are already apparent with first projects already under way," the statement read.

From June 1-2, the EC's Vice-President Maros Sefcovic will implement the first practical actions within the partnership along with Smailov and Kazakh Industry Minister Marat Karabayev during the 13th International Astana Mining and Metallurgy Congress, the EU added.

See the original post here:
Kazakhstan-EU Strategic Partnership Becomes Effective - European ... - UrduPoint News

Romania's Negrescu is adamant that the European Political Community, or EPC, should not replace the process of EU accession for countries that want to join thebloc.

"This platform (the upcoming EPC summit in Moldova) will allow us to have a better interaction with the countries that are trying to get into the European Union," he says. "But this should not replace the process of integration. We have to offer a European perspective for Ukraine, for the Republic of Moldova, for the countries in the Western Balkans. They have to get into the European Union, not into another platform. So we should not create formats that will keep those countries out of the EU."

Negrescu implies that it's time to go up a gear in the enlargement of the EU. "We need to move from nice words to concrete elements," he says. "For instance, we have two new candidate countries; Ukraine and Moldova. Normally they should get access to the EU pre-accession funds. But they dont have access to those funds yet. There are some countries that are not willing to amend the European budget to provide those countries with the necessary resources so that they can make the reforms that would bring them closer to the European Union."

Negrescu welcomes the various financial tools that the EU has adopted in the last few years, but he says the bloc needs to go further.

"Our countries are facing important transformations on the digital side, on the green side, and for all of that we need more instruments to be capable of leading the process," he says. "For example, on the financial support that's being provided to countries in need, most of the help is in the form of loans, not grants. And if you take the recovery plan (the EU's post-Covid Recovery and Resilience Facility, or RRF), we don't have enough common initiatives. Romania has its own recovery plan, but Bulgaria has another recovery plan and they are not linked even though we are neighbouring countries in the region. We are not cooperating with Poland, we are not cooperating with France, and France is not cooperating enough with Germany, despite the good relations that they have. So developing the European dimension when it comes to those challenges is key."

On the issue of Ukrainian grain exports, Negrescu notes: "Sixty percent of the grain exported by Ukraine goes through Romania. So this is an important issue for us. Romania has joined other EU member states in requesting additional support for our farmers. There have been two financial decisions to support farmers in our region. This support does not fully cover the costs we are currently facing. But we are working with the EU; developing new tools to verify the grains, andalso tools to make sure that the grains reach the markets that most need it, especially in Africa."

Programme produced by Isabelle Romero, Yi Song, Perrine Desplats and Sophie Samaille

View original post here:
Talking Europe - EU should move from 'nice words' to action on enlargement: Romanian ex-minister Negrescu - FRANCE 24 English

New York and Brussels The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and the European Union (EU) have renewed their partnership on insider mediation for conflict prevention and peacebuilding through a three-year project aimed to support local leadership and local ownership in peace mediation.

Increasingly, conflicts are compounded by multi-dimensional drivers such as weak governance, intercommunal tension and polarization, climate change, and endemic gender inequality. Locally-led, inclusive and people-centered prevention and peacebuilding efforts can empower communities who have the most to gain from social cohesion and sustaining peace, Asako Okai, UN Assistant Secretary-General and Director, UNDP Crisis Bureau said.

As critical resources for locally-led peacebuilding, Insider Mediators (IMs) derive their legitimacy, credibility and influence from a socio-cultural and/or religious and, indeed, personal closeness to the parties of the conflict, endowing them with strong bonds of trust that help foster the necessary attitudinal changes amongst key protagonists which, over time, prevent conflict and contribute to sustaining peace, according to the UNDP Guidance Note Engaging with Insider Mediators: Sustaining peace in an age of turbulence (2020).

During its first (2012-2013) and second (2015-2018) phase, the UNDP-EU partnership on Insider Mediation has enabled building and piloting critical insider mediation capacities across 14 countries while contributing to global policy and practice through two guidance notes onEngaging with Insider Mediators. A previous project phase in Peru supported Insider Mediators from civil society and community organizations to participate in multi-stakeholder dialogues on democratic and sustainable natural resource management, whereas women Insider Mediators in Uganda contributed to violence-free elections in 2016 through an early-warning and rapid response mechanism.

Working even closer with national partners, the new phase will dedicate its resources to institutionalizing and sustaining the capacities of Insider Mediators, significantly boosting the leadership of women and youth, facilitating access to global knowledge as well as context-specific, shared learning via peer support. Its holistic approach will better connect Insider Mediators and their expertise with relevant UN system, regional and international actors to promote insider mediation across local and global spheres.

Insider mediation will become an even more significant part of the global peacebuilding architecture. It is already an effective component of the EU and UN efforts to foster locally led and people-centered initiatives to build and sustain peace, Benedikta von Seherr-Thoss, Managing Director of Common Security and Defence Policy in the European External Action Service (EEAS) said.

Inclusivity is key to strengthening the capacities of Insider Mediators. "The renewed UNDP-EU partnership on Insider Mediation pays particular attention to the powerful potential of women and young people as change agents for peace", Peter M. Wagner, Head of the European Commission's Service for Foreign Policy Instruments (FPI) said. Both the Women, Peace and Security (WPS) as well as the Youth, Peace and Security (YPS) agendas demonstrate the pivotal role of women's and young people's meaningful inclusion and leadership in conflict prevention and sustainable peacebuilding.

While reinforcing the important role of Insider Mediators, the new project phase also highlights the centrality of peace as the founding premise of both the United Nations and the European Union and as a critical enabling global goal for the Sustainable Development Agenda, nationally and globally.

For further information, please contact:

EU in Brussels: Barbara Einhuser, European Commission, Service for Foreign Policy Instruments (FPI.2), barbara.einhauser@ec.europa.eu and Sanna Harty, European External Action Service (EEAS) Integrated Approach for Security and Peace (ISP.2 - Conflict Prevention and Mediation Support)

View post:
The European Union and UNDP to renew partnership on Insider ... - United Nations Development Programme

The European Union's Council of Ministers (the Council) has reached agreement on the draft DAC8 directive on administrative cooperation in the area of taxation, amending the existing directive to require reporting and automatic exchange of information (AEOI) on revenues from crypto-asset transactions.

From 2026, crypto-asset service providers will have to conduct due-diligence procedures on clients and report to EU Member States' tax authorities on a broad range of crypto-asset transactions, including stablecoins, e-money tokens and certain non-fungible tokens. These 'travel rule' reports will then be automatically shared with other Member States' tax authorities, as is already done for conventional asset transactions under previous versions of the directive. No minimum threshold has been set for the size of transactions to be reported under a regulation adopted by the Council at the same time.

According to the Council, the amended directive is needed because the decentralised nature of crypto-assets has made it difficult for Member States' tax administrations to ensure tax compliance. 'The inherent cross-border nature of cryptoassets requires strong international administrative cooperation to ensure effective tax collection', it says.

The amended directive is based on the European Commission's draft proposal of December 2022, and reflects the Crypto-Asset Reporting Framework (CARF) and a set of amendments to the Common Reporting Standard (CRS) prepared by the OECD under the mandate of the G20 group of countries. Unusually, it does not require approval by the European Parliament, and can be implemented by unanimous agreement of Member States alone.

The new directive will also extend the scope of the current rules on exchange of tax-relevant information by including provisions on exchange of advance cross-border rulings concerning high-net-worth individuals, as well as provisions on AEOI on non-custodial dividends and similar revenues. The Council says the current provisions of DAC do not cover this type of income. In particular, the proposal seeks to improve the rules on reporting and communication of the Tax Identification Number (TIN) to help tax authorities identify the relevant taxpayers and their liabilities. It introduces new penalties that Member States can impose on persons who fail to comply with national legislation on reporting requirements.

Original post:
European Union reaches final position on crypto-transaction ... - STEP

The EU Commission expects to reach preliminary accords by the end of September, which will broaden access to crucial minerals and metals, such as lithium for electric vehicle batteries. This move marks a significant step in the EUs pursuit of a less carbon-intensive economy and opens the door to potential partnerships in South America and beyond. As part of the EU Raw Materials Strategy, diplomacy has been prioritised, with strategic partnerships and policy dialogues established with non-EU countries to ensure access to raw materials on global markets.

The main objective of the EUs raw materials diplomacy strategy is to reduce dependency on China and Russia, which currently dominate the market on critical raw materials. These agreements are expected to be signed in the first half of 2023, according to Bloomberg. They will enable the EU to secure lithium, copper, cobalt, nickel, and rare earth elements (REEs) essential for green energy, electric vehicles (EVs), and digital technology. Argentina and Chile possess significant lithium and copper reserves, with Argentina being the worlds fourth-largest lithium producer and Chile the leading copper producer.

European Commission Vice-President Maros Sefcovic highlighted the importance of these agreements, stating that Europes green and digital transitions are inextricably linked to our ability to secure a reliable supply of critical raw materials. He also emphasised that Argentina and Chile are strategic partners for Europe in this regard.

As part of its raw materials diplomacy strategy, the EU aims to diversify sources, strengthen domestic production, improve recycling, and stockpile critical raw materials. The EU currently has 30 critical raw materials, and demand for lithium, cobalt, and graphite is expected to increase 20-fold by 2030. In 2020, the EU held a High-Level Economic and Trade Dialogue on raw materials with China, but the proposed EU-China Comprehensive Agreement on Investment was paused in 2021 due to human rights concerns.

Sanjeev Gupta, executive chairman of GFG Alliance, noted that China dominates the market on critical raw materials, and the EU has realised it needs to do something about it. He added that Europe cant rely on China for its supply of critical raw materials, so its looking elsewhere.

Despite the potential benefits of these agreements, the EUs raw materials diplomacy strategy has been criticised for its environmental and social impacts in partner countries. Mining can cause deforestation, water pollution, and displacement of local communities. Lucas Noura, a researcher at the European Environmental Bureau (EEB), argued that the EUs strategy isnt really addressing the environmental and social issues related to mining.

Further investigation is needed to unveil the specific terms and conditions of the agreements between the EU, Argentina, and Chile, including financial, environmental, and social commitments. Additionally, the impact on local economies and communities in Argentina and Chile, as well as the long-term effects on their mining industries, should be carefully considered.

The EUs Raw Materials Strategy goes beyond Argentina and Chile, encompassing strategic partnerships and policy dialogues with countries such as Brazil, Canada, China, Colombia, Greenland, Japan, Mexico, Peru, the United States, Uruguay, EuroMed countries, and the African Union. These dialogues focus on topics such as raw materials production, trade, recycling, criticality, and rare earths. The EU also participates in international forums and supports the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) work on raw materials.

As the European Union moves towards a greener and more digitalised future, securing access to critical raw materials is essential. The agreements with Argentina and Chile mark a significant step in this direction, opening the door to potential partnerships in South America and beyond, while also raising important questions about the environmental and social implications of these deals.

View post:
The European Union is on the brink of striking critical-materials ... - Innovation Origins