Azernews.Az

By Sara Rajabova

The UK embassy in Azerbaijan has announced a company to engage in issuing visas to Azerbaijani citizens.

UK's new commercial partner Teleperformance Ltd will take over the running of the United Kingdom's Visa Application Centers in Baku, Azerbaijan from March 2014, the embassy wrote in its Facebook page.

The embassy said there also might be changes to the services such as opening hours of operation at the Visa Application Centre. Currently, the opening days will be Monday to Friday.

Applications will be processed by UK Visas and Immigration at the Istanbul hub, however there will be no changes to the customer service processing times (90 percent of non settlement applications in 15 working days and 95 percent of settlement applications in 12 weeks).

Earlier, UK's ambassador to Azerbaijan, Irfan Siddiq told BBC Azerbaijan that the visa section at the British Embassy in Azerbaijan was closed.

The UK recognized Azerbaijan's independence in December, 1991. Diplomatic relations between the two countries were established in March, 1992.

Azerbaijan and the UK have benefitted from close bilateral partnership and cooperation since 1992, in the framework of international organizations such as the United Nations, OSCE, Council of Europe, and NATO. The relations have covered a wide range of issues, from high-level political dialogue to growing trade and investment, as well as strengthening cultural and humanitarian ties.

Economic cooperation between the two countries, especially in the energy sector, is at the core of the relations between Azerbaijan and the UK. The UK is the largest foreign direct investor in Azerbaijan, followed by the U.S. and Japan.

Azerbaijan cooperates with the UK in the exploration and transportation of oil and natural gas from the Azerbaijani part of the Caspian Sea.