Azerbaijan spent less than half of EU financial aid in 2013
By Nigar Orujova
Azerbaijan has spent only less than half of European Union financial aid allocated in 2013 within the framework of the European Neighbourhood and Partnership Instrument (ENPI).
The annual report of the EuropeAid Directorate for Development and Cooperation says that out of 25 million euro of official development assistance (ODA), allocated by the EU for Azerbaijan within the framework of the ENPI mechanism, only 10.97 million euro was paid.
In total, 13.09 million euro were paid to Azerbaijan in 2013 through various mechanisms, including 1.26 million euro within the Development Cooperation Instrument, 800,000 euro in the frame of the European Instrument for Democracy and Human Rights, and 70,000 euro through the European Commission's Department of the Humanitarian Aid and Civil Protection.
The EU and Azerbaijan are maintaining relations under the Partnership and Cooperation Agreement, which was signed in 1996 and came into force in 1999.
Since then the PCA has provided the legal framework for EU-Azerbaijan bilateral relations in the areas of political dialogue, trade, investment, economic, legislative and cultural cooperation.
Azerbaijan is also included in the EU program on "Eastern Partnership" adopted on the initiative of Poland and Sweden and approved at the EU summit in Brussels in 2008.
The goal of the program is reconciliation between the EU and Azerbaijan, Ukraine, Armenia, Moldova, Georgia, Belarus.
The program envisages significant increase in the level of political interaction, large integration of former Soviet republics into EU economy, increasing the volume of financial aid to them and strengthening the energy security.
Azerbaijan and the EU signed a visa facilitation agreement at the EU summit in Vilnius in November 2013. Azerbaijan also signed the readmission agreement with the EU earlier this year.
The agreements are expected to enter into force from September 1.