The EU intends to come to an agreement soon on medium-term priorities for the period spanning up until 2020, says the director of the “Neighborhood East” Department in the Directorate-General for Neighborhood and Enlargement Negotiations Lawrence Meredith.
These remarks were made during a presentation titled, “EU support for the development of vocational education in Azerbaijan,” in the 3rd EU-Azerbaijan Business Forum in Baku, APA reports. Earlier in May, Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Mahmud Mammadguluyev spoke about the discussions on the agreement between the EU and Azerbaijan to Report News Agency.
According to him, there are three main key priorities in this agreement: political and security issues; trade and investments; other fields and sectors (transport, energy, culture, human rights).
Mammadguliyev says that the talks began with political and security issues, because they are of critical importance for Azerbaijan. The talks will be continued with the participation of the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Elmar Mammadyarov, in Luxembourg on June 19.
During the presentation ceremony Meredith also mentioned the Southern Gas Corridor and other similar projects which is one of the important directions of EU-Azerbaijan relations, Meredith claimed.
The European Union is one of the biggest foreign investors in Azerbaijan’s economy, comprising a total of 7 billion euros in direct investment, 2 billion of which is in the non-oil sector.