EDITOR'S NOTE: Details added after fifth paragraph
Azerbaijan, Baku, Nov. 26 / Trend M. Aliyev /
The Council of Europe's AGO Group focused on Azerbaijan's municipal elections in 2009 and parliamentary elections in 2010 during talks in Baku this week, AGO Group head and Romanian Ambassador to the Council of Europe Stelian Stoyan said at a press conference during his visit to the country today.
He said the sides discussed the state of Azerbaijani media, court and penal service reforms, and corruption, as well as the country's obligations to the Council of Europe.
Stoyan added that meetings have been held during his visit to the country with President Ilham Aliyev, the country's parliamentary speaker, Presidential Administration head, opposition party leaders, detained journalists, and NGO representatives.
The municipal elections in Azerbaijan will be held Dec. 23. Roughly 15,682 members will be elected to 1,718 municipalities. Roughly 32,000 candidates have been registered from 18 political parties.
Local municipality elections were also held in Azerbaijan in 1999 and 2004.
Stoyan said his visit has helped to assess the situation in the country.
"It is one of our annual visits. We met with various groups to better familiarize ourselves with the situation in the country," he said.
Stoyan said as a result of the visit the AGO Group has reached a number of conclusions.
"The fact that at the moment we can say the Council of Europe intends to cooperate in the future with Azerbaijan and there were many positive moments is clear. After our visit to Istanbul, we intend to work over projects for the Council of Europe to support Azerbaijan," the AGO Group head said.
He added that the monitoring demonstrated Azerbaijan's commitment to the Council of Europe.
Stoyan added that progress has been observed while electing and training judges, as well as with prison conditions and other custodial facilities.
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