Azerbaijan, Baku, Nov. 16 / Trend V.Zhavoronkova /
"Various meetings, including the meeting of foreign ministers, are expected to be held under the EU Eastern Partnership program," EU Special Representative for South Caucasus Peter Semneby told journalists in Baku.
According to him, the meeting will likely take place in December.
He said the association agreement will be ready after the negotiation process. "Now we are in the threshold of the agreement and question of the adoption of mandates for negotiations with the EU are on the agenda. This will be in early 2010, after which a decision to launch negotiations that will take for a year or eighteen months will be made," he said.
The Eastern Partnership will be part of the responsibilities of the EU's high representative, who will be appointed soon and take office after the entry into force of the Treaty of Lisbon to be likely on Dec.1, he added.
On May 7, Prague hosted a founding summit of the Eastern Partnership program which is aimed at rapprochement between the EU and Armenia, Azerbaijan, Georgia, Moldova, Belarus and Ukraine. The program envisages allocation of 600 million euros to the countries up to 2013 to strengthen state institutions, control of borders and help small businesses.
The project of Eastern Partnership does not imply opportunities for EU membership, but also involves political and economic rapprochement with the regional organizations, including visa facilitation and cooperation in the energy sector. The summit signed Eastern Partnership declaration.
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