Azerbaijan, Baku, March 11 / Trend/
The EU encourages Azerbaijan to maintain an open dialogue with members of civil society organizations expressing views and opinions in a peaceful manner, the EU Local office's statement reads.
The EU Delegation takes note with concern of the increasing number of reports of arrests of youth activists in the country.
The EU Delegation closely monitors domestic developments in Azerbaijan, notably in the domain of democracy and human rights. Those are essential elements for political stability, and key elements of the foundation on which the Eastern Partnership is built upon, the statement reads. The delegation reiterates the great importance it attaches to all fundamental freedoms, including freedom of expression and freedom of assembly.
The delegation calls on Azerbaijan to ensure due process in all the recent cases of arrest of youth activists and support the cooperation established with OSCE on the area of democracy and human rights.
The Eastern Partnership Program is a Polish-Swedish initiative under the EU Neighborhood Policy aimed at improving EU relations with six former Soviet countries Azerbaijan, Georgia, Moldova, Belarus, Ukraine and Armenia. The program envisages the allocation of 600 million euro to these countries until 2013 to strengthen state institutions, control borders and help small companies.
The program does not envisage opportunities for EU membership, but instead envisages facilitating the visa regime, energy cooperation, and the introduction of free trade zones. Small projects on student exchange, environmental protection, and energy supply will also be implemented.