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Foreign ministers consider Eastern Partnership development satisfactory

09 December 2009 07:31 (UTC +04:00)

â€œI think this successful process will develop during the presidency of Spain tooâ€, said current president of the European Union, Swedish foreign minister Karl Bildt.

EU Commissioner for External Relations, European Neighborhood Policy and Trade Benita Ferrero-Waldner said the Eastern Partnership achieved significant results in the short time. â€œThis is first meeting of the ministers and I am proud of our success in this short timeâ€.

The commissioner said bilateral relations between EU and Eastern Partnership member countries were actively developed and now EU was conducting associative agreement talks with Ukraine: â€œWe will start similar talks with Moldova in 2010 and in near future EU Ministerial Council will approve directives for the talks with the South Caucasian countries â€“ Azerbaijan, Georgia and Armeniaâ€.

Regarding the multilateral aspects of the cooperation, the commissioner said EU would begin institutional building to increase effectiveness of the government institutions, as well as small and medium business development programs in the partner countries.

In his turn, Azerbaijani Foreign Minister Elmar Mammadyarov called the Eastern Partnership program a pipeline united the partner countries with the European Union.

The minister emphasized the importance of energy cooperation between the South Caucasian and EU countries.

â€œAzerbaijan is ready to develop discussions to turn the talks into real workâ€, said the minister.