POLITICS
EU-Azerbaijan Cooperation Council convenes in Brussels
Baku, December 8 (AZERTAC). The Cooperation Council between the European Union (EU) and the Republic of Azerbaijan has held its eleventh meeting on Tuesday in Brussels.
The Azerbaijani delegation was led by Mahmud Mammadguliyev, Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs, while the UN delegation by Zsolt Németh, Minister of State for Foreign Affairs of Hungary (Chair
of the Cooperation Council meeting) and Štefan Füle, Commissioner for Enlargement and European Neighbourhood Policy. The EU Special Representative for the South Caucasus, Ambassador Peter Semneby, also took part in the meeting.
The parties discussed the implementation of the EU-Azerbaijan European Neighbourhood Policy Action Plan and issues related to enhancing EU-Azerbaijan relations, including the ongoing negotiations of a new EU-Azerbaijan Association Agreement within the framework of the Eastern Partnership.
The Cooperation Council underlined the need to remain focused on and speed up implementation of the ENP Action Plan, including WTO accession, also in view of the Progress Report to be published in spring 2011.
The Cooperation Council provided a good opportunity to take stock of latest developments in the South Caucasus, as well as to review recent political and economic reforms in Azerbaijan.
The Cooperation Council discussed EU-Azerbaijan cooperation in the energy sector and agreed on the need to further implement the EU-Azerbaijan Memorandum of Understanding on energy signed in November 2006. The Cooperation Council also discussed several projects in this field and underlined the importance of the next months for the development and effective start of Nabucco and ITGI.