COOPERATION OF THE EUROPEAN UNION AND THE REPUBLIC OF AZERBAIJAN IN THE FRAMEWORK OF THE В« EASTERN PARTNERSHIPВ» PROGRAM

Shabelnikova Olga V.

Annotation

The article is devoted to the cooperation between the European Union and the Republic of Azerbaijan in the framework of the В«Eastern PartnershipВ» program. The new regional initiative of the European Union was founded at the summit in Prague on 7 May 2009 and has brought together six post-Soviet states - Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Georgia, Moldova and Ukraine. The author analyzes four thematic platforms of the "Eastern Partnership" -ntion has been paid to the energy aspect of the cooperation. Thanks to its advantageous geographical position and considerable energy resources, Azerbaijan has become an active participant in energy programs, developed by the European Union for the Black Sea and Caspian Sea region. The EU countries are seeking to diversify energy supply. On the 14 of January 2011 the Joint Declaration on the supply of Europe by Azerbaijani gas via the Southern Gas Corridor was signed between the European Union and Azerbaijan. By this declaration and the future construction of the Trans-Anatolian (TANAP) and the Trans-Adriatic (TAP) pipeline, Azerbaijan has recomended itself as a reliable energy partner of Europe. However, despite some positive results, which were achieved in the framework of the "Eastern Partnership", such as the inflow of additional investment in the economy, energy partnership, educational programs, the agreement on the visa liberalisation, the Azerbaijani leadership is not quite pretty by this cooperation. Instead of the Association Agreement, Azerbaijan is committed to sign the Strategic Modernisation Partnership with the EU.

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