Baku set to mull trade, sectoral chapters of SPA with EU
By Amina Nazarli
Trade and sectoral chapters of the new EU-Azerbaijan Strategic Partnership Agreement (SPA) will be discussed in Brussels in late September.
Azerbaijan’s Deputy Foreign Minister Mahmud Mammad-Guliyev told reporters that alongside trade, investment policy and security, the meeting will also discuss other issues.
“We will try to discuss a number of issues,” the deputy FM said on September 21. “Priorities of the new cooperation will be also discussed in Brussels. This is a new step. We have already submitted our proposals. The EU considered them and expressed its opinions. Based on that, we prepared and submitted our proposal, which will be discussed on September 29.”
September 27 will see a meeting of the subcommittee for trade between the EU and Azerbaijan in Brussels, which will be focused on investments and trade, said the deputy FM.
Meetings of subcommittees for security, human rights, and democracy, according to Mammad-Guliyev will be held in the second half of October.
“The date of the energy subcommittee’s meeting is still unknown, because preparations for the Eastern Partnership Summit should be held,” the deputy FM noted. “I don’t think the subcommittee meeting will be held before the summit. Subcommittee meetings are currently being held in Brussels, so we consider their proposals and express our opinion.”
Mammadguliyev further stressed that the EU’s single position on all conflicts is important for Azerbaijan.
He added that the SPA between Azerbaijan and the EU reflects the independence, sovereignty, territorial integrity, inviolability of Azerbaijan’s borders.
Moreover, Mammadguliyev touched upon the issue of preparation for the Eastern Partnership summit to be held in Brussels in November.
“The work which has been carried out for two years will be discussed at the summit,” he said. “We have something to say because we have achieved success over these years.”
The European Council adopted a mandate for the European Commission and the high representative for foreign affairs and security policy to negotiate, on behalf of the EU and its member states, a comprehensive agreement with Azerbaijan in November 2016.
The new agreement should replace the 1996 partnership and cooperation agreement and should better take account of the shared objectives and challenges the EU and Azerbaijan face today.
The agreement will follow the principles endorsed in the 2015 review of the European Neighborhood Policy and offer a renewed basis for political dialogue and mutually beneficial cooperation between the EU and Azerbaijan.
Currently, the bilateral relations between the EU and Azerbaijan are regulated on the basis of agreement on partnership and cooperation, which was signed in 1996. A new agreement envisages the adjustment of Azerbaijan's legislation and procedures to the EU's most important international and trade norms and standards, which should lead to an improvement in the access of Azerbaijani goods to the EU markets.
--
Amina Nazarli is AzerNews’ staff journalist, follow her on Twitter: @amina_nazarli
Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAz