Baku, Azerbaijan, Nov. 20
By Abbas Akhundov - Trend:
After the Vilnius summit of "Eastern Partnership" on Nov.28-29, Azerbaijan and the European Commission will resume the negotiations on Association Agreement, Deputy Foreign Minister of Azerbaijan Mahmud Mammadguliyev told Trend on Nov.20.
"We considered several issues during the work of EU-Azerbaijan Cooperation Committee in October. Probably, after the Vilnius summit we will resume both videoconferences and plenary sessions," he said.
The last plenary session was held In April 2013.
The Association Agreement covers four areas - political dialogue, including issues of security; justice and protection of human rights; economic, social and humanitarian issues; and trade. Negotiations are conducted on all of these areas.
The last direction will create opportunities for the export of Azerbaijani goods to EU countries in the future. Azerbaijan already enjoys the duty-free export of several thousand types of products to EU countries, but unfortunately, the quality of these goods remains a problem.
Earlier Mammadguliyev said it is very important for Azerbaijan to prepare a qualitative document that will cover all aspects of the country's long term cooperation activities with the EU. Therefore, it is difficult to indicate the possible time of signing of the Association Agreement.
Till the agreement takes action, relations between the EU and Azerbaijan will be carried out under the Partnership and Cooperation Agreement which was signed in 1996 and came into force in 1999. However, the government does not intend to artificially extend the signature time of the Association Agreement, as it will create a legal framework for further cooperation with the EU.
The negotiations on associate membership began in June 2010.
The EU intends to sign an agreement separately with each of the South Caucasus nations; the content of these agreements will depend on their depth of cooperation with the EU. In addition, it is planned to sign separate visa facilitation agreements with EU countries.
On September 30, 2009 in Brussels, the foreign ministers of the three South Caucasus countries participated in the annual session of the European Council for Cooperation with the South Caucasus Countries. At this meeting, a decision was made regarding the prospects of associate EU membership for the South Caucasus countries, which is the most effective stimulus for conflict resolution and internal reforms in the region.
