Brussels - The August war in Georgia highlights the need for the European Union and Kazakhstan to work together, especially on energy issues, officials from the two sides said on Tuesday.

But the war is not likely to stop Kazakh companies investing in Georgian energy pipelines, Kazakh Trade Minister Vladimir Shkolnik told journalists after a meeting with EU officials in Brussels.

"Any investment is an economic decision and always carries a certain risk, but I imagine in this case the risks will be minimal," he said.

At the tenth meeting of the so-called "EU-Kazakhstan Cooperation Council," French Minister for Europe Jean-Pierre Jouyet briefed Shkolnik on the EU's view of the Russian-Georgian war, stressing the need for cooperation on energy matters.

"Clearly diversification of supply, the energy partnership we have with Kazakhstan, the efforts we have made there to boost infrastructure and the fact that there is agreement on the Caspian Sea-EU route are extremely important elements," he said.

"We support all that can be done in Kazakhstan ... We wish and want to reinforce our cooperation on this (energy) issue," he said.

The EU currently relies on Russia for more than a third of its imports of gas and oil. It is desperate to create new routes which both bypass Russia as a transit country and open up supplies from third countries, including Kazakhstan.

Central to these concerns are the EU's planned "Nabucco" gas pipeline which is intended to carry gas from Azerbaijan through Turkey to Europe, and the trans-Caspian pipeline which is proposed to link Azerbaijan, Turkmenistan and Kazakhstan.

Given the recent war between Russia and Georgia, it is "more than ever in the EU's interest to make sure this (Nabucco) project takes form ... not as something aimed against Russia but because you shouldn't put all your eggs in one basket," said Eneko Landaburu, head of the external-relations division at the European Commission.

"I think there are possibilities for cooperation on what Kazakhstan is doing in the Caspian route and the Nabucco project," Jouyet said.

Shkolnik said simply that plans for the trans-Caspian pipeline were "in the planning stage" and that a decision would follow.

Also at the meeting, the EU "encouraged" Kazakhstan not to recognize the independence of the breakaway Georgian regions of Abkhazia and South Ossetia, which Russia recognized on August 26.

Kazakhstan has "shown understanding" for the Russian position but "supports the territorial integrity of all parties," Shkolnik said. (dpa)