Azernews.Az

By Nigar Orujova

The European Union and Azerbaijan are expected to conclude negotiations on visa regulations by late 2013, Azerbaijani Deputy Foreign Minister Mahmud Mammadguliyev said on Tuesday.

"The negotiations should be completed by late this year. However, this depends on both sides," Mammadguliyev said.

According to Mammadguliyev, the negotiations are progressing well.

"Several issues such as readmission and the facilitation of visa procedures must be addressed," he said, noting that the next round of talks will be held in Brussels on March 11-12.

In January, European Union Delegation head Roland Kobia said the issue cannot be considered insoluble, and stressed that it is not easy either for European citizens to come to Azerbaijan, therefore, the issue of visa facilitation should be solved jointly. Kobia said that there is an example of regional countries such as Georgia, Ukraine and Moldova, whose governments have already completed a political dialogue on the visa issue. In general, Kobia belives, the issue of visa facilitation depends on the presence of political will.

Azerbaijan and the EU launched official negations on visa facilitation 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.