Azernews.Az

The next round of negotiations on easing visa regulations between the European Union and Azerbaijan is expected to take place in Baku in early November, head of the EU Delegation to Azerbaijan Roland Kobia told journalists on Tuesday.

"The negotiations on visa facilitation regime between the EU and Azerbaijan are progressing," Kobia said. "We have had a few rounds of negotiations already. And we will continue to discuss both visa facilitation and readmission agreements."

He said the teams are working very hard and the EU hopes to see further progress very soon, adding that specific decisions depend on the outcome of the negotiations.

"If Azerbaijan wants to do everything that is needed to get this visa facilitation, it can be very quick," he said.

An agreement on the simplification of visa entry for citizens of Azerbaijan provides for a reduction of the list of documents submitted along with the application for a visa and the possibility of issuing multiple entry visas with a longer validity period, thus reducing the cost of visas for particular categories, and also envisions time limits for processing an application.

The agreement on readmission will, in turn, develop a mechanism for repatriation of those residing in the EU and Azerbaijan without permission.

The EU and Azerbaijan are maintaining relations under the Partnership and Cooperation Agreement, which was signed in 1996 and came into force in 1999. In 2009, the EU passed a decision to start negotiations on the conclusion of bilateral association agreements of Azerbaijan, Georgia and Armenia with the bloc. These agreements will be a new practical instrument to replace the bilateral action plans.

Azerbaijan is also included in the EU's Eastern Partnership program, adopted at the initiative of Poland and Sweden and approved at the EU summit in Brussels in 2008. The Eastern Partnership is aimed at political and economic rapprochement of six post-Soviet states with the EU.