Representatives of the European Commission postponed their visit to Baku originally scheduled for mid July 2005 for discussion of the initial variant of an action under the New Neighborhood Policy. Asgar Alakbartov, the Executive Director of the Coordinating Bureau of Tacis, said the EC representatives preferred autumn 2005 for a tour of the South Caucasus region. Now they plan to tour the region early September.
Under the New Neighborhood Policy it is planned to carry out cooperation both in traditional and innovative directions. The traditional directions include support to democratic reforms, legal reforms, defense of human rights, trade relationships, support in entrance to the World Trade Organization (WTO), cooperation in the spheres of transport and energy, the consolidation of the superiority of the law, assistance to fighting with corruption, the improvement of the elections system, combating dug trafficking consolidation of frontier preservation and police, regulation of migration issues, improvement of situation with poverty reduction, structural reforms, transparency in investment projects, legal aid to small and medium-scale entrepreneurship, upgrade of the tax and customs system, legal regulation and administration, liquidation of impediments in the way of investments and trade.
The new direction of the New Neighborhood Policy will be �Contacts among people’, which envisages the participation of representatives of the Azerbaijani civil society in the civil programs implemented in the spheres of education, culture, preservation in Europe.
The development of an action plan and budget of the new program is expected to complete by late 2005.