An agreement between Azerbaijan and the European Union is expected to be signed in May, Ogtay Asadov, the speaker of the Azerbaijani Parliament, reported on April 23.
"The agreement is ready. It is expected to be signed on May 13 this year. It will be in favor of the Azerbaijani people", Asadov said in his speech to parliament.
He also added that in the draft agreement, Nagorno-Karabakh has been included as part of the Azerbaijani territory.
"There are some technical issues that need to be resolved,", Asadov said, mentioning Baku's success on this issue of inclusion.
Azerbaijan has been cooperating with the European Union within the framework of the Eastern Partnership Program, a regional dimension of the European Neighborhood Policy, since 2009. In February 2017, negotiations started on signing a new partnership agreement. Early this April, Federica Mogherini, the European Union’s High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, hinted in a speech made in Brussels that Azerbaijan and the EU were at “the final, crucial phase” of talks on a “new, ambitious bilateral agreement”.
Six neighbor countries to the EU (Georgia, Moldova, Ukraine, Belarus and Armenia) cooperate with the 28-member bloc within the Eastern Partnership Program. Georgia, Moldova and Ukraine have already signed association agreements with the bloc.
