MILLI MEJLIS OF THE REPUBLIC OF AZERBAIJANEU-AZERBAIJAN PARLIAMENTARY COOPERATION COMMITTEE

MINUTESof the

THIRTEENTH MEETING20 September 2016

BAKU

CONTENT

1. Adoption of draft agenda

2. Approval of the minutes of the 12th Meeting of the EU-Azerbaijan

Parliamentary Cooperation Committee in Brussels on 20-21 June

2012

3. EU-Azerbaijan bilateral relations: important reforms and

developments

4. The prospects for cooperation in the Euronest Parliamentary

Assembly

5. Future direction of activities of the Parliamentary Cooperation

Committee

6. Towards a new ambitious EU-Azerbaijan agreement: prospects for

the Milli Majlis – European Parliament relations

7. Any other business

The thirteenth meeting of the EU-Azerbaijan Parliamentary Cooperation

Committee (PCC) opened on 20 September 2016 at 10.30 am, under the co-chairmanship of Mr. Samad SEYIDOV (Milli Mejlis) and Mr. Sajjad KARIM

(European Parliament).

Mr. Samad SEYIDOV, Co-Chair of the EU-Azerbaijan PCC warmly welcomed the

participants including Mrs. Malena MARD, the EU Ambassador in Azerbaijan and

Mr. Fuad ISGANDAROV, the Azerbaijani Ambassador to EU. Mr. SEYIDOV

reviewed the current state of relations between the Milli Mejlis and the European

Parliament, pointing out the EP Resolution on Azerbaijan of 10 September 2016 and

the Milli Mejlis Decision on relations with the EP of 14 September 2016. Mr.

SEYIDOV presented the Azerbaijani MPs attending the meeting. He opened the

meeting and gave the floor to the Co-chair – Mr. Sajjad KARIM. After thanking Mr.

SEYIDOV for his kind words and extremely warm welcome, Mr. KARIM stated that

the EP Delegation is delighted to be in Azerbaijan for exchange of views. Mr.

KARIM presented the MEPs attending the meeting.

The draft agenda was adopted without any changes.

Comments by Mr. KARIM on relations between the Milli Mejlis and the

European Parliament.

Mr. KARIM stressed that this was the first meeting of the EU-Azerbaijan

Parliamentary Cooperation Committee since 2012 and some time had passed without

any dialogue taking place. He underlined that this was a genuine and real chance to go

back to natural position of relations between the EU and Azerbaijan, which was based

upon constructive intent with shared values. He pointed out the importance of meeting

with the President of Azerbaijan. He repeated his belief in consolidating cooperation

between two parliaments. Thanking Mr. SEYIDOV for his very constructive opening

remarks, Mr. KARIM reiterated his trust that the Milli Mejlis and the EP could move

forward to build up a very constructive dialogue and that the PCC members would

leave the meeting room knowing that they had not taken just a small step forward, but

a big step which laid the foundations for the coming months and years of real

constructive delivery, not just constructive intent.

Further comments by Mr. SEYIDOV on relations between the Milli Mejlis and the

European Parliament.

Drawing attention to the location of Azerbaijan, Mr. SEYIDOV gave an overview of

the role that Azerbaijan plays in the region as an independent country. He mentioned

that Azerbaijan, as an important country of region, understood the necessity of having

good bilateral relations with the European Union, but noted that these relations should

be built up on equal basis and mutual respect. He expressed readiness of the

Azerbaijani parliament to elaborate on relations for re-establishing a constructive

dialogue.

Reminding significance of both PCC and Euronest formats in relations between the

two parliaments, Mr. SEYIDOV gave the floor to the members of the Milli Mejlis

who engaged on these two formats.

Mr. Fuad MURADOV, MP welcomed the EP Delegation in the Parliament of

Azerbaijan and stressed his confidence that this meeting shows that we are on right

track. Nonetheless, taking into account his experience as member of PCC and

Euronest PA, he mentioned inefficiency of both formats in meeting expectations that

he had at the very beginning of these initiatives. He stressed the inevitability of

implementing reforms in both formats in order to turn them into real mechanisms of

cooperation.

Mr. Asim MOLLAZADE, MP touched upon the Armenia-Azerbaijan Nagorno

Karabakh conflict and expressed his frustration with the EU’s lack of knowledge

about this conflict. As a member of the Euronest PA, he agreed with Mr. MURADOV

on inefficiency of Euronest format in meeting expectations and told that for several

years it was not possible to adopt any serious decisions in Euronest on crucial

problems of Eastern Partnership region, with eventual emergence of one more

problem – Ukrainian crisis. He stated that Azerbaijan and EU have many shared

values and Azerbaijan is a part of Europe. He mentioned importance of having also

cultural dialogue between two sides.

Thanking to MPs for their interventions, Mr. KARIM informed about the high-level

participants from other EU institutions. He gave the floor to Mr. Luc DEVIGNE,

Deputy Managing Director for Russia, Eastern Partnership, Central Asian and OSCE

at the EEAS.

Mr. DEVIGNE said that he was delighted to be present at the meeting as

representative of Mrs. Federica MOGHERINI, High Representative of the European

Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy. He stated that the EEAS was

extremely pleased with the resumption of dialogue between the Milli Mejlis and the

EP and that they hoped that this resumption will give a momentum to the relations

between the parliaments. He mentioned that the EU and Azerbaijan are not always on

the same line and it was normal for international relations. He noted that the meeting

reflected the fact that the two sides had a lot in common and our shared values

exceeded our differences. He stated that our differences could and should be on the

table, but this doesn’t mean we can’t agree as long as we envisage our partnership in

equal and mutually respectful manner, and this is what we definitely intend to do. He

underlined that looking to the future it was high time to develop or to resume

relations. He reminded of the visit of High Representative Mogherini to Baku on 24

February 2016 and the importance she attached to creating a new chapter in our

relations. Mr. DEVIGNE gave information on current state of negotiations between

the EU and Azerbaijan and positively appreciated the recent decision of the European

Parliament on giving consent to the Protocol on participation of Azerbaijan in various

EU programmes.

Thanking to Mr. DEVIGNE for his intervention, Mr. KARIM gave the floor to Ms

Katarina MATHERNOVA, Deputy Director-General of the Directorate-General

Neighbourhood and Enlargement (DG NEAR) of the European Commission.

Ms MATHERNOVA said that the European Commission very much welcomed the

resumption of dialogue on the parliamentary level. She praised the fact that

Azerbaijan was one of the most active participants of the EU Twinning Programme.

She gave information on current relations and fields of cooperation between the EU

and Azerbaijan on bilateral and multilateral basis. She also informed that the EU was

very interested in cooperation with civil society representatives in Azerbaijan and the

EU wanted to support the civil society in Azerbaijan, as it did in all other countries of

the Eastern Partnership.

Taking into consideration Mr. MURADOV’s remarks on expectations from the

Euronest PA which have not been met; MEP Heidi HAUTALA told that in a year of

absence of Azerbaijan in this organisation, Euronest PA has engaged in self-critical

reform process with the aim of turning institution into more effective one where

members can profit from each other’s experiences and views. She drew attention to

the fact that the EP had always supported the territorial integrity and sovereignty of

Azerbaijan and said that we have to find new ways to support the peaceful settlement

of long-lasting conflict over Nagorno Karabakh. She concluded by saying that we are

here to know also the criticism by the Azerbaijani side on equal basis.

Thanking to Ms HAUTALA for her interventions and kind remarks, Mr. SEYIDOV

gave the floor to Mr. Javanshir FEYZIYEV, member of the Milli Mejlis.

Mr. FEYZIYEV stated that Azerbaijan was an open country for cooperation with the

world, as well as with the EU. He noted that the EU was very important for

Azerbaijan not only from the political, but also economic point of view. Calling the

EU as a unique institution, Mr. FEYZIYEV told that Azerbaijan was interested in

more powerful and effective EU in international relations. Nonetheless, he underlined

an existence of number of shortages in the EU politics, which prevent it from playing

an effective role in providing security and peace of the world. He also highlighted the

EU’s prejudiced approach in some cases toward Azerbaijan and expressed that this

approach brought our relations to a stalemate. He underlined the many shared values,

but noted that to respect to these shared values was more important than to have them

and very high-level relations were possible if we respected each other. He concluded

saying that both the EU and Azerbaijan had a lot to give to each other.

Mrs. MANESCU underlined the current geopolitical context of today and said that we

did need the EU; we did need a strong Azerbaijan as a stable country, as a model

country in the region and this was important not only for the region, but for whole

Europe. She called attention to importance of stability in the region and said that high-

level economic ties and political relations can’t be achieved without stability. She

mentioned that the EP had to support the EU institutions in their efforts of paving a

road for good cooperation with Azerbaijan and expressed her hope that the EP would

support these efforts more efficiently in the future. She mentioned that the EU had to

pay more attention to energy cooperation with Azerbaijan and to reduction of its

energy dependence on Russia. She concluded by saying that we needed to be more

pragmatic and more realistic, since we had our lessons from this hard period and

understood that the lack of dialogue between us can lead us in an undesirable

direction.