Azernews.Az

The European Union and Azerbaijan will hold their first-ever meeting on "social affairs, public health, education and youth, culture, information society, science and technology" on February 9-10, the EU office in Baku said Monday.

This session will enhance and structure exchanges and dialogue with Azerbaijan on a range of issues of importance to the daily life of people. From 2012 onwards it will take place on an annual basis.

"This new forum of dialogue shows that Azerbaijan and the EU are engaged in wide-ranging cooperation going beyond politics and energy," said Roland Kobia, Head of EU Delegation to Azerbaijan. "Thanks to this dialogue, the EU will offer the Azerbaijani people an exposure to the social models we have in the EU. I am looking forward to our discussions as they will contribute to exchange of views on the topics which concern all strata of the society. There will be new opportunities to develop and strengthen our cooperation in these important areas."

During the two-day discussions, developments and cooperation in the areas of social affairs, public health, education and youth policies, progress in electronic communication policy, increase of researchers' capacity through exchange and other mobility programs will be reviewed. Together with the existing three sub-committee meetings on democracy, energy and economic matters, this first gathering on social policies concludes the implementation of EU-Azerbaijan comprehensive dialogue under the bilateral cooperation program.