“European Union expands its activity in the regions of Azerbaijan,” Head of the European Union Delegation to Azerbaijan, Kestutis Jankauskas told Eurasia Diary.
The Ambassador took office in September, so most of the projects of the last year in the regions, were carried out under the leadership of his predecessor, Malena Mard.
The ambassador noted that he managed to visit Sheki within the event organized by the Delegation of the EU, just after he arrived to Azerbaijan. He said that a lot of friendly local residents participated in that event. People enjoyed visiting tents where they could get the information about all member states of the European Union, including the information about national cuisine, training programs and tourism possibilities.
Kestutis Jankauskas also talked about the public opinion polls, conducted last year by the EU Delegation on the EU.
"We saw that in comparison to 2016, the number of people who know about the EU and those who have a positive attitude towards the EU has doubled this year. Still, 20% of respondents do not have information about the European Union. It means, we have something to work on. We have to continue organizing cultural and educational events for Azerbaijani people: simply provide them information about the EU as well as the information about our cooperation with Azerbaijan, which is developing dynamically at the moment," Jankauskas added.
Addressing the forthcoming projects in the country, the ambassador underlined the joint celebration of the 100th anniversary of Azerbaijan Democratic Republic this year. As it is known, in 1918 Azerbaijan became the first democratic state in the Muslim world by giving the right to vote to women. It became the first country where there were opera and ballet. The Ambassador stressed that these values are similar to European values.
Kestutis Jankauskas said that it is also expected to celebrate Europe Day in one the regions of Azerbaijan in May.
According to him, the IMAGINE Euro Tolerance film festival is also planned to be continued. The Festival was successfully hold in October and was aimed at spreading the values, those close to Europe and Azerbaijan: tolerance and multiculturalism.
Continuing the theme about the EU Delegation’s activity in the regions of Azerbaijan, Jankauskas spoke about the plans for future development of the relations with Lenkaran city in the field of agriculture.
He also mentioned already existing project for development of the vocational training in Barda.
At the end, the Ambassador expressed his confidence that in the near future Representatives of the European Union will visit and involve in the projects more regions of Azerbaijan.
Natialia Guliyeva
Photo: Samir Sadikhov
