Azernews.Az

By Nigar Orujova

Negotiations on visa facilitation between Azerbaijan and Europe are continuing, European Union Delegation head Roland Kobia said Monday.

"It is not easy either for European citizens to come to Azerbaijan, therefore, I believe the issue of visa facilitation should be solved jointly," Kobia told journalists.

Kobia said the issue cannot be considered insoluble.

"From this point of view there is an example of countries in the region such as Georgia, Ukraine and Moldova, whose governments have already completed a political dialogue on the visa question," he said.

According to Kobia, in general the issue of visa facilitation depends on the presence of political will.

According to Azerbaijani Deputy Foreign Minister Mahmud Mammadguliyev, there are no problems with visa facilitation, while some readmission questions remain open.

Official negotiations between Azerbaijan and the EU on visa facilitation started in March 2012 in Baku.

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 visa application and the possibility of issuing multiple entry visas with a longer validity period, thus reducing the cost of visas or even making them free for particular categories, and envisions time limits for processing an application.

The agreement on readmission will 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 sanction negotiations on the conclusion of bilateral association agreements of Azerbaijan, Georgia and Armenia with the organization. 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.