EU implements dozens of twinning projects in Azerbaijan

By Azernews

By Amina Nazarli

Since 2007, the European Union has successfully implemented 48 twinning projects in Azerbaijan.

Jeroen Willems, Head of the Cooperation Section of the EU Delegation in Azerbaijan announced about this during the event dedicated to summing up the implementation of the joint twinning project by the EU and the Taxes Ministry of Azerbaijan on the improvement of human resource management in Baku.

"This is a very good figure, and it, in particular, exceeds the number of projects in Georgia and Moldova. In 2017, we plan to begin the 50th jubilee twinning project," he said.

He added that over 30 public institutions took advantage of the realized twinning projects in Azerbaijan.

"This increases the level of cooperation between the different administrations. I am very pleased that the Taxes Ministry is one of these institutions," said Willems.

Willems further mentioned that the EU and Azerbaijan mark the 25th anniversary of their partnership in 2016.

"But I would also like to point out that next year will be 10 years since we started the joint implementation of the twinning projects," he added.

Earlier in May, Sahil Babayev, Azerbaijan’s Deputy Minister of Economy said that the EU is preparing to implement nine twinning projects worth nearly € 9 million in Azerbaijan.

Saying that new projects are expected to be implemented in the spheres of justice, education, agriculture, he added that each project is realized within the framework of 2 years.

Currently, the bilateral relations between the EU and Azerbaijan are regulated on the basis of a partnership and cooperation agreement, which was signed in 1996 and came into force in 1999. The agreement provides for wide-range cooperation in the areas of political dialogue trade, investment, in economic matters, legislation and culture.

Since then, the European Union has gradually expanded the scope of its assistance and cooperation with Azerbaijan.

The European Council adopted a mandate for the European Commission and the high representative for foreign affairs and security policy to negotiate, on behalf of the EU and its member states, a comprehensive agreement with Azerbaijan on November 14.