Azerbaijan, Baku, May 3 / Trend, A.Badalova /
Negotiations on visa facilitation between the EU and Azerbaijan are very close to conclusion, EU Commissioner for Enlargement and European Neighbourhood Policy, Štefan Füle said during a press conference in Baku on Friday.
"The agreement will allow Azerbaijani people to benefit from the procedures to travel to the EU," he said.
According to Füle, an aviation agreement is also on the way.
"Hopefully, we can finalize it in the near future," he said.
Agreement on the simplification of visa entry for citizens of Azerbaijan provides for a reduction of the list of documents submitted along with the application for a visa, the ability to issue multiple-entry visas with longer period of validity thus reducing the cost of visas for particular categories and to establish time limits for processing an application.
Relations between the EU and Azerbaijan are being carried out under the Partnership and Cooperation Agreement which was signed in 1996 and came into force in 1999. In 2009, the Minister of Foreign Affairs for the EU Commission issued a mandate to start negotiations on the conclusion of bilateral association agreements of Armenia, Azerbaijan and Georgia with the EU. These agreements will be a new practical instrument to replace the bilateral action plans.
Azerbaijan is also included in the EU's Eastern Partnership program, adopted at the initiative of Poland and Sweden and approved at the EU summit in Brussels in 2008. The Eastern Partnership is aimed at political and economic rapprochement of six post-Soviet states with the EU.
As for presidential elections in Azerbaijan, Füle said that forthcoming elections in the country will be a test for democracy.
"We want to see them to be conducted in accordance with international commitments of the country. And we want them to be free and fair," he said.
Regarding the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, EU support is focused on the OSCE Minsk Group and Madrid principles. "The current status quo is unsustainable. We are the ones who proposed confidence building measures," Füle said.
The conflict between the two South Caucasus countries began in 1988 when Armenia made territorial claims against Azerbaijan. Armenian armed forces have occupied 20 per cent of Azerbaijan since 1992, including the Nagorno-Karabakh region and seven surrounding districts.
Azerbaijan and Armenia signed a ceasefire agreement in 1994. The co-chairs of the OSCE Minsk Group - Russia, France and the U.S. are currently holding the peace negotiations.
Armenia has not yet implemented the U.N. Security Council's four resolutions on the liberation of the Nagorno-Karabakh and the surrounding regions.