BERLIN - Kazakh officials hope that recent trade deals with Germany will lead to a trade pact with the European Union that will spur the Central Asian nation’s economic development. “The government is making a strong effort to go beyond oil and gas, and is seeking also to diversify its foreign investors, looking beyond China, the U.S. and Russia to Europe,” said Robert Cutler, who specializes in energy security and geo-economics at Carleton University in Ottawa.
