The First Counselor of the EU Delegation to Azerbaijan Mr. Denis Daniilidis in his exclusive interview with Eurasia Diary talked about negotiations started between the EU and Azerbaijan on a new agreement.

Note that on 14 November 2016, the Council adopted a mandate for the European Commission and the High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy to negotiate, on behalf of the EU and its member states, a comprehensive agreement with the Republic of Azerbaijan.

The new agreement should replace the 1996 partnership and cooperation agreement and should better take account of the shared objectives and challenges the EU and Azerbaijan face today.  It will follow the principles endorsed in the 2015 review of the European neighborhood policy and offer a renewed basis for political dialogue and mutually beneficial cooperation between the EU and Azerbaijan.

Eurasia Diary: EU launched negotiations on a new agreement with Azerbaijan.  What do you think about this very important stage in the EU-Azerbaijan relations?

Denis Daniilidis: The approval of the mandate for the beginning the talks between European Union and Azerbaijan on new agreement are extremely positive development in our bilateral relations. This year has seen intensification of our bilateral relations. We have resumed work on the partnership and cooperation agreements of subcommittees after a break .This mandate for new agreement  is another very important moment which shows that we are both ready to set our relations at the different level .

Eurasia Diary: This new agreement is supposed to replace the Partnership and Cooperation Agreement signed in 1996 between the EU and Azerbaijan. What are the main differences between these two agreements?

Denis Daniilidis: What I can say is obviously that the previous document reflected different European Union and very different Azerbaijan. During all these years Azerbaijan has changed and the European Union also has changed, therefore as with most European Eastern Partnership countries we need to update our relationships to adopt new conditions. This is exactly what we want to do with Azerbaijan. A lot of things have happened. I do not want to analyze all of them but one of them that you are very much aware is our energy partnership. As you know, we are strategic partners in the energy field. Our relationship has now widened as we have many different sectors where we cooperate. The reflection of that is a high number of subcommittees of high levels. Also, we have resumed our cooperation between European Parliament and Milli Mejlis (National Assembly of Azerbaijan). Therefore we need an agreement that reflects all these new levels of relationship.

Eurasia Diary: Do you think this new agreement can strengthen the EU-Azerbaijan bilateral relations beyond energy?

Denis Daniilidis: Our cooperation is already far beyond energy. Energy is sector where our common interests push us to discuss our relationship in very big depth but we are cooperating in many sectors. I think that one good proof of this is that Azerbaijan among all the Eastern Partnership countries is the country that has the biggest number of twinning projects. This means high level of trust and exchange of expertise. Therefore I can say that our cooperation is already de facto much wider than cooperation merely on energy. If you compare the  number of visitors of European citizens coming to Azerbaijan ten years ago and now and number of Azerbaijani citizens that are going to European Union, the difference is completely significant.

We know each other better and we trust each other more and I think this is the most important for any relationship - to know and trust.

Eurasia Diary: In your opinion, what impact will this new agreement have on civil society?

Denis Daniilidis: I think when we are in negotiations on a new agreement; obviously, we want to involve civil society in order to take into account the development of the people to people contacts between European Union and Azerbaijan. This is still a process and adopting of the mandate doesn’t mean that we have an agreement. It means the start of the process and this process I think will be relatively long one, because our relationship also deserves an adopted structural framework. Therefore, I think in this process we will need to take into account views of many partners including obviously civil society.

Eurasia Diary: What are the main benefits Azerbaijan and European Union can get from these new talks in the long-term?

Denis Daniilidis: I think these new talks on new agreement will bring the European Union and Azerbaijan much closer because we need to define our relationship and this agreement, as I said before, should reflect the ambition and the reality of our relationship. It should take into account the current economic strength of Azerbaijan. It also has to apply the European Union’s role in the wider Caucuses region. It is obvious that high level visits of the European officials in Azerbaijan demonstrate high interest in Azerbaijan. Hence, I am sure that these negotiations will be very useful, fruitful and will allow us to have diversified wider broad set of activities that will reflect the political priority of both sides to work together.

Interview by Anastasia Lavrina