Azerbaijan, Baku, 26 September /corr. Trend I.Khalilova / "The European Commission presented Government of Azerbaijan the initial variant of the indicative program within the European Neighborhood Policy (ENP) for 2008 totaling €22mln," Rufat Mammadov, the Executive Director of the coordination office of the EU Technical Assistance for Azerbaijan program (Tacis) said on 26 September.
"The proposals of the European Commission are under consideration at the Cabinet of Ministers of the country," Mammadov said.
The program will provide support for the reforms in the sphere of justice via the Public budget of Azerbaijan. €6mln is envisaged for twinning program and €16mln for budget support in the field of justice.
The twinning program is expected to render assistance in the sphere of environmental protection, in the direction of protection of human rights, strengthening of control, reduction of poverty. The beneficiaries of assistance can be the Ministry of Economic Development, Ministry of Ecology and of Natural Resources, State Anti-Corruption Commission.
According to Mammadov, within assistance to the reforms in the sphere of justice, support is envisaged to be provided for the penal system, development of regional departments of the Ministry, establishment of Justice Academy.
The ENP budget envisaged for Azerbaijan, for 2007-2010, totals €92mln. The 2007 funds for the energy sphere and twinning program totaled €19mln.
The priority directions of the ENP action plan for Azerbaijan (2007-2013), adopted in Brussels in November 2006, are the strengthening of democracy in the country, improvement of business and investment climate, support for sustainable economic development, adjusting the economic legislation and management practices, strengthening of cooperation between the EU and Azerbaijan in the energy and transport sectors, regional cooperation and the cooperation in border governance.
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