Baku, Azerbaijan, May 17
By Leman Zeynalova - Trend:
Increasing the level of relations with Azerbaijan is especially good for the European Union (EU), Norica Nicolai, the European Parliament Rapporteur on the EU-Azerbaijan Comprehensive Agreement, told EURACTIV.
She noted that increasing the level of relations between Azerbaijan and the EU is good for both sides.
“For us especially, because there are a lot of European companies who do business in Azerbaijan. I believe that we need to support the Eastern Partnership at this moment, we need to look at what unites us, not the things that make us different,” said Nicolai.
“If we don’t have Azerbaijan, Georgia, Ukraine, Moldova in the Eastern Partnership, we risk a failure in our neighborhood policy. If we are not close to our Eastern partners, we risk being isolated in a world that is more and more open and global.”
The Eastern Partnership (EaP) is a joint initiative involving the EU, its Member States and six Eastern European Partners: Azerbaijan, Belarus, Georgia, the Republic of Moldova, Ukraine and Armenia. It is a specific dimension of the European Neighbourhood Policy.
The Eastern Partnership aims at building a common area of shared democracy, prosperity, stability and increased cooperation. Additionally, bonds forged through the Eastern Partnership help strengthening state and societal resilience: it makes both the EU and the partners stronger and better able to deal with internal and external challenges.
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