Baku, Azerbaijan, Nov. 14
By Seba Aghayeva – Trend:
EU foreign ministers will discuss the preparation of a new agreement on partnership with Azerbaijan.
The discussions will be held during a meeting at the Council of the European Union Nov. 14 in Brussels, Belgium.
Earlier, Mahmud Mammad-Guliyev, Azerbaijan’s deputy foreign minister, told Trend that the mandate to start negotiations on the new agreement on strategic modernized partnership between the EU and Azerbaijan may be issued until end of 2016.
Currently, bilateral relations between the EU and Azerbaijan are regulated on the basis of an agreement on partnership and cooperation that was signed in 1996 and entered into force in 1999.
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.
The EU is Azerbaijan’s major trade partner.
Azerbaijan initiated to sign an agreement on strategic modernized partnership with the EU instead of the agreement about association. The document is a program, a plan of action aimed at the expansion of cooperation with the EU beyond energy. The new agreement will define new directions of partnership, such as education and other spheres.