Azerbaijan, Baku, Jan. 9 / Trend , I.Khalilova/ "The Azerbaijani Government has signed with the European Commission a financial memorandum on the indicative program for 2007 as part of the European Neighborhood Policy (ENP), with the budget of 19 million euro," Rufat Mammadov, chief executive of the Tacis (Technical Assistance for the Commonwealth of Independent States) Coordinating Office, said on Jan. 9.
The technical assistance will be used in three areas - sectoral budget support,
twinning program, and technical assistance. Five million euros will be
allocated to the twinning program [roughly five projects], and 14 million euros
to the other two components [one million euros is intended for technical
assistance to budget].
The energy sector has been chosen for the budget support. Legislative and
administrative reforms will be carried out in this sector through the financing
of the state budget.
The funds will be transferred to the state budget in three tranches. The first
tranche in the amount of three million euros will be transferred as soon as
possible, but the next two will require the implementation of EU's certain
conditions by Azerbaijan.
According to Mammadov, EU offers legal and institutional reforms to Azerbaijan, including the establishment of an agency to regulate alternative and renewable energy
sources, the unification of the legislation, the development of efficient
energy supply and renewable energy sources.
A technical task on the twinning projects for the State
Committee on Standardization, Metrology and Patents and the State Service on
Consumer Market Control is being developed as part of the ENP. Each structure will
receive technical assistance of one million euros.
The 2007-2010 ENP budget for Azerbaijan totals 92 million euros.
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