Azerbaijan has reiterated its committment to develop relations with the European Union.
Foreign Minister Elmar Mammadyarov highlighted the importance of the upcoming EU Eastern Partnership summit in Brussels in November, saying that it was "an important event" and and "that negotiations on the text of the Summit Declaration should be started at the earliest convenience".
"We expect the upcoming Brussels Summit Declaration to capture a united and coherent approach to the settlement of conflicts, as well as reflecting on the negative impacts of existing conflicts for full-scale implementation of the Eastern Partnership objectives", Mammadiarov said.
The Azerbaijani Foreign Minister was speaking at a Ministerial dialogue meeting of the Visegrad Four (V4) countries and Eastern Partnership countries in Budapest on Thursday (31 August).
The Minister added,
"Azerbaijan has been a reliable EU partner, and the growing number of strategic partners among the EU member states and V4 Group inspires us to advance dialogue with the EU under the same conditions. We are interested in progressing our bilateral track through speedy negotiations on a new strategic agreement with the EU. Since official launch of the negotiations back in February we have engaged in a productive and constructive dialogue within different blocks of the agreement.
Azerbaijan is also interested in building its relations with EU based on mutually agreed priorities. Priority-driven cooperation tailored to the economic potential and specific goals of each country would be more efficient in realization of the principles of differentiation, flexibility, focus and greater ownership. The EU-Azerbaijan Partnership Priorities will translate these goals into concrete areas of cooperation."
source: commonspace.eu with the press service of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs pf Azerbaijan.
photo: Azerbaijani Foreign Minister Elmar Mammadyarov (archive picture).
