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Khazar Ibrahim: â€œAzerbaijan has not received an invitation to join the Eastern Partnership initiativeâ€

26 May 2008 11:41 (UTC +04:00)

He said last week Poland and Sweden informed the European Union about their intentions to propose the establishment of Eastern Partnership Organization with the participation of Azerbaijan, Georgia, Armenia, Ukraine and Moldova. The initiator-countries will put their proposal on the table at the meeting of EU foreign ministers on May 26.
27 EU member countries and above-mentioned post-soviet countries are considered to join the Eastern Partnership. Negotiations on the cancellation of visas and establishment of free trade zones and signing of strategic treaties will be held within the new organization. The Eastern Partnership project also considers carrying out projects on the exchange of students, environmental security and energy supply. According to the initiative, Belarus can join the organizations in the level of experts if it intends and Russia can be involved in local initiatives such as solution of Kaliningrad problem. Unlike the Mediterranean Union, the Eastern Partnership will not have a secretariat and its work will be coordinated by the European Commission. It is considered to finance the Eastern Partnership within the European Neighborhood Policyâ€™s budget. France supports this idea and Germany, Britain and Netherlands also show the interest.