Baku, Azerbaijan, Apr. 7
By Elena Kosolapova - Trend:
Azerbaijan and the European Union plan to hold next round of talks on the new strategic partnership agreement within the next two weeks, Head of the EU Delegation to Azerbaijan Malena Mard told reporters in Baku Apr. 7.
“We are very happy with the visit of President [Ilham] Aliyev to Brussels which was the start of the negotiation on the new legal basis of cooperation between the EU and Azerbaijan. And we hope within a couple of weeks we will have another meeting,” Mard said.
She noted that the both sides are very ambitious about this meeting and the experts from Azerbaijan and the EU are very busy preparing for this round of negotiation.
According to Mard, the meeting will most likely take place in Baku.
The European Council adopted a mandate for the European Commission and the high representative for foreign affairs and security policy to negotiate, on behalf of the EU and its member states, a comprehensive agreement with Azerbaijan in November 2016.
The new agreement should replace the 1996 partnership and cooperation agreement and should better take account of the shared objectives and challenges the EU and Azerbaijan face today.
The agreement will follow the principles endorsed in the 2015 review of the European Neighborhood Policy and offer a renewed basis for political dialogue and mutually beneficial cooperation between the EU and Azerbaijan.
The new agreement envisages the compliance of Azerbaijan’s legislation and procedures with the EU’s most important international trade norms and standards, which should lead to the improvement of Azerbaijani goods’ access to the EU markets.
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