On Wednesday 11 July, High Representative of the EU for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Federica Mogherini and Azerbaijan's Foreign Affairs Minister Elmar Mammadyarov initialled a document containing the priorities agreed for the partnership between the EU and Azerbaijan.
These partnership priorities focus on four areas of cooperation. The first of these is strengthening the institutions and good governance, especially the fight against corruption, reform of the public administration and capacity-building to tackle crime and terrorism.
Economic development and market opportunities were also highlighted, particularly the sustainable diversification of the economy, support for WTO accession, and improvement of the business and investment environment.
Connectivity, energy efficiency, the environment and climate action are another area for cooperation.
In addition, the two parties will highlight mobility and person-to-person contact. This particularly involves supporting education and human capital, and offering EU and Azerbaijani citizens more opportunities to meet and share their experience, according to the EEAS.
These priorities, which also constitute the political framework of financial cooperation for 2018-2020, must now be approved by the two parties and officially adopted by the EU-Azerbaijan Association Council. Alongside these priorities, the EU and Azerbaijan are negotiating a new bilateral agreement. (Original version in French by Camille-Cerise Gessant)