European Commission assesses Azerbaijan's progress within ENP

The European Commission published on 12 May 2010 the so-called neighbourhood package, consisting of an overall assessment of five years of implementation of the European Neighbourhood Policy (ENP), 12 country reports on developments in 2009, including one on Azerbaijan, he EU ambassador to Azerbaijan Roland Kobia said to press conference in Baku.

According to ambassador, the report states that in 2009 Azerbaijan made some progress in the implementation of the ENP Action Plan, notably in areas related to economic and social governance.

The report says that Azerbaijan fared comparatively well during the year despite the global financial crisis, which allowed the government to increase social spending and capital investment. "Progress was also made in the aviation through the signature of the horizontal air services agreement and fight against money laundering. However, only limited progress was made as regards the accession to the World Trade Organisation (WTO). There was no substantial progress with respect to the protection of human rights and fundamental freedoms. In 2010 further efforts are needed in the field of political dialogue and reforms, including justice sector and the strengthening of the rule of law," the ambassador said.

The report says that proper implementation of the adopted legislation in all areas, continued efforts to fight corruption, notably by enforcing the relevant legislation, would be of key importance.

Also, the European Commission considers it necessary to continue the positive trend in the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict settlement. The ambassador highly assessed the approval of the directives and giving a mandate to the European Commission to start negotiations on association agreement that is envisaged by the Eastern Partnership Program.

The Council of Foreign Ministers of 27 EU member states on May 10 approved negotiating directives, issuing a mandate to the European Commission to negotiate on signing bilateral association agreements between the EU and Azerbaijan, Armenia and Georgia.

"This is a long-waited moment," said the ambassador. According to the ambassador, negotiations will soon begin with the Azerbaijani government to directly start the project.

Association Agreement, not envisaging the possibility of EU membership, will replace the existing bilateral agreement on partnership and cooperation.

"In the issue of the association agreement, the South Caucasus is considered as a single region, but at the same time, each country will be given time to run its way, said Kobia. So, if any South Caucasus country passes negotiations soon, the agreement with it will be signed earlier."


/Trend/