1

EU-Azerbaijan Parliamentary Cooperation Committee

MINUTESof the fourteenth meeting of the EU-Azerbaijan Parliamentary Cooperation Committee

2-3 May 2017European Parliament, Brussels

The fourteenth meeting of the EU-Azerbaijan Parliamentary Cooperation Committeewas held on 2-3 May 2017, in the premises of the European Parliament, in Brussels,

under the co-chairmanship of Messrs Javanshir FEYZIYEV (Milli Mejlis) and SajjadKARIM (European Parliament).

Mr Sajjad Karim, Co-Chair of the EU-Azerbaijan PCC warmly welcomed the participants

including H.E. Mr Fuad ISGANDAROV, Ambassador of Azerbaijan to EU.

Mr KARIM welcomed the progress EU-Azerbaijani relations have undergone since the

thirteenth Parliamentary Cooperation Committee held in 2016, stressing that the negotiations

between the EU and Azerbaijan had been launched for the EU-Azerbaijan comprehensive

agreement. Mr KARIM reviewed the agenda items of the meeting, expressed hope that those

will be very productive sessions and gave the floor to Co-Chair Mr Javanshir FEYZIYEV.

Mr FEYZIYEV expressed gratitude to the European Parliament for hosting the fourteenth

EU-Azerbaijan PCC meeting. He welcomed the restart of PCC sessions marked by an active

participation from both sides, and expressed his joy at the launch of the negotiations for the

new and comprehensive EU-Azerbaijan agreement. He underlined Azerbaijan’s willingness

to continue cooperation within the PCC after a 5-year suspension, which created some

mistrust and tensions in the EU-Azerbaijani bilateral relations.

Mr FEYZIYEV also stressed that since 2015 the members of Azerbaijani Milli Mejlis had

made several visits to Brussels and Strasbourg, noticing that sometimes there is a lack of

information in the European Parliament regarding various issues in Azerbaijan. To avoid

such a situation, Mr FEYZIYEV underlined the need to strengthen cooperation between the

EU and Azerbaijan. He expressed his belief that PCC was the appropriate format to discuss

2

various aspects for EU-Azerbaijani relations, which is also the only bilateral format for

relations at parliamentary and government levels, according to the current EU-Azerbaijan

agreement.

The draft agenda was adopted without any changes.

Mr KARIM stressed the importance of the new EU-Azerbaijan agreement, since it will

provide a new basis for enhanced political dialogue and mutually beneficial cooperation

between the EU and Azerbaijan. Then he passed the floor to Mr Dirk SCHUEBEL, Head of

Division, European External Action Service, Division for "Eastern Partnership - Bilateral".

Mr SCHUEBEL underlined the importance of the resumption of the relations between the

European Parliament and Azerbaijan. He indicated that the EU and Azerbaijan faced

common challenges and therefore needed to cooperate so as to overcome them. The new

agreement will reflect mutual interests and benefits. There are several Working Groups

formed that have been working on the following topics: Trade, Sectorial Cooperation,

Energy, Environment and Climate Change. Mr SCHUEBEL also mentioned that the draft

proposal presented by Azerbaijan on strategic partnership with the European Union would

broaden the scope of EU-Azerbaijan relationship. Azerbaijan and the EU have shared values,

such as democracy, rule of law and respect for human rights. He also noted that Azerbaijan

has expressed its desire to diversify its economy.

Mr Karim invited Mr Mahmud MAMMAD-GULIYEV, Deputy Foreign Minister of

Azerbaijan, to take the floor.

Mr MAMMAD-GULIYEV reckoned that both sides were seeing each other as reliable

partners. All the articles of the upcoming agreement should be carefully designed. This is the

first time that the draft of the strategic agreement is presented by the other side, not the EU.

Azerbaijan decided to have this agreement, since it already had similar agreements with a

number of countries. He also mentioned the Strategic Memorandum on energy sector

between the EU and Azerbaijan, and stressed that Azerbaijan was looking forward to

negotiating on a document mentioning specifically on transport, although provisions on good

governance and human rights would also be considered.

Mr SCHUEBEL made further comments on political dialogue and reforms in Azerbaijan. In

particular, he also stated that, since expectations from both sides were high with respect to the

upcoming agreement, there should be a well-functioning democracy ensured in Azerbaijan,

specifically referring to the institutional amendments of 2016 and the call of the Venice

3

Committee of the Council of Europe to start the implementation of those reforms. As a

Muslim secular country, Azerbaijan can share its experience of intercultural dialogue. The

EU would like to cooperate with Azerbaijan in fight against corruption. The EU welcomes

the release of some of the activists, but urges Azerbaijan to release all the detained and

imprisoned political activists and human rights defenders. Mr SCHUEBEL also stressed the

importance of freedom of media and mentioned the two media sources that have been

blocked by the Azerbaijani government.

Mr Kamran BAYRAMOV evoked the reforms in the political life of Azerbaijan since the

independence re-gained in 1991. He mentioned that human rights and the rule of law have

been among the main goals of the state policy. He commented also on the current media

situation in Azerbaijan, citing the number of newspapers, TV channels and journals.

Afterwards, Mr BAYRAMOV mentioned the efforts implemented by the government to

make the process of receiving financial aid from the EU for Azerbaijani NGOs easier. He

also indicated judicial reforms, talking about the humanisation policy that the Azerbaijani

government has adopted and mentioning examples in the amendments in the penitentiary

policy, the improvements in the detention conditions and release of prisoners. Mr

BAYRAMOV underlined the EU support in strengthening the protection of human rights and

democratic rule in Azerbaijan.

Mr Rustam RUSTAMOV from the Ministry of Economy of Azerbaijan briefly introduced the

economic reforms in Azerbaijan for the last 1,5 years. He focused on the licensing and

structural reforms, which included changes in tariff policies, introduction of e-portal and

appeals system for entrepreneurs. Mr RUSTAMOV indicated that the State was giving soft

loans to potential exporters.

To the inquiry of Mr KARIM on the reasons why two opposition websites had been blocked,

a representative of Azerbaijani Milli Mejlis responded that they did not have sufficient

information available now, adding that they would make an inquiry to the respective agencies

and provide additional information to the European Parliament.

Mr Lawrence MEREDITH from the European Commission’s DG NEAR commented on the

fact that the EU is the largest trade partner of Azerbaijan, citing that after Ukraine,

Azerbaijan is the second in terms of EU investment, which currently represents 7 billion EUR

per year. Also, Azerbaijan is the most active with the number of Twinning projects.

4

To talk about the peaceful settlement of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, Mr FEYZIYEV

gave the floor to Mr SCHUEBEL, who stressed again the stronger support the EU has been

providing to the OSCE Minsk Co-Chairs after the 2016 April escalations. He said that the

current status quo in Nagorno-Karabakh was unsustainable. The conflict should be solved

exclusively by peaceful means, mentioning the EPNK which has entered its third phase.

Afterwards, the floor was given back to Mr MAMMAD-GULIYEV, Deputy Minister of

Foreign Affairs of Azerbaijan, who mentioned that the same scenario had been occurring in

all the conflicts in the post-Soviet space with elements of separatism. Mr MAMMAD-

GULIYEV expressed his hope that the EU would continue its support for sovereignty,

independence and territorial integrity of Azerbaijan without exercising a selective approach.

He also stressed that since the EU was the main donor for Armenia, it could exert some

pressure. As Azerbaijan wishes to resolve the conflict by peaceful means, it reserves its right

to restore its territorial integrity by all possible methods. This was followed by comments by

Mr KARIM, who confirmed that the European Parliament was fully aware that Nagorno-

Karabakh remained the most important and the most painful issue for Azerbaijan. He also

stated that the EU High Representative Federica Mogherini and the EU Special

Representative for the South Caucasus, Herbert Salber had been very active in supporting the

international mediation efforts. He also mentioned the European Partnership for the Peaceful

Settlement of the Conflict over Nagorno-Karabakh, an EU initiative aiming to foster people-

to-people contacts across the divide of conflict and engagement in peace-building activities.

Moreover, Mr. KARIM highlighted the Young Political Leaders Programme – a flagship

initiative of the European Parliament designed to promote dialogue and understanding as a

means to contribute to longer-term peace and trust amongst future leaders, in which young

people from Armenia and Azerbaijan participate too.

MEP Heidi HAUTALA took the floor to share her concerns regarding the rhetoric on the

means of the solution of Nagorno-Karabakh conflict. She mentioned that while the speakers

from the EU side stated that the EU sees only peaceful solution for the conflict, the

Azerbaijani representatives mentioned several times that Azerbaijan does not exclude the

military resolution. To her remark, Mr Elshad HASANOV, Member of the Milli Mejlis

replied that Azerbaijan cannot wait indefinitely for the resolution of the conflict.

Afterwards the session on regional cooperation and challenges for Azerbaijan commenced.

Mr MEREDITH from European Commission’s DG NEAR indicated five main areas for

5

future EU-Azerbaijan cooperation. Those are Transport, Energy, Access to Finance, Civil

Society and Youth.

As the meeting neared its end, both Co-Chairs expressed the hope that the EU-Azerbaijani

relations would continue to get stronger, with a new, far-reaching agreement leading to closer

political dialogue with more frequent meetings in the future.