Unresolved issues with the EU are not a problem for Azerbaijan - R. Musabayov

Baku / 06.04.19 / Turan: The Milli Mejlis deputy and political analyst Rasim Musabayov believes that an agreement between Azerbaijan and the European Union may be signed in May, and the parties planned just this. The only remaining obstacle is the incompleteness of negotiations on the economic issues, Musabayov said in an interview with Turan.

"In fact, the signing the agreement was planned for an earlier date, but there were certain obstacles, among which there is no unresolved Karabakh problem and humanitarian and legal issues. As is known, Azerbaijan did not join the WTO, therefore, the partnership agreement with the EU has to take into account and include purely economic and trade issues of bilateral relations. If Azerbaijan were a member of the World Trade Organization (WTO), then this bloc would have been resolved when discussing Azerbaijan"s membership in the WTO," the MP explained.

Ukraine and Georgia are members of the WTO; therefore, when discussing the relations of these countries with the EU, the economic issues did not stand in front of them, being resolved in the process of accession to the WTO. Azerbaijan, due to the presence of an unresolved bloc, cannot yet sign an agreement with the EU. I think that speaking about the remaining 10%, Minister E. Mammadyarov meant this," the deputy noted.

Musabayov added that the bloc of trade and economic relations with the EU is not discussed at the level of the Azerbaijani Foreign Ministry, but with the involvement of the Ministry of Economy of Azerbaijan and other relevant state organizations of Azerbaijan in negotiations with Europe. Such as AZAL, which needs to improve relations with the airlines of EU member states, Azerbaijani banks, insurance companies that will cooperate with colleagues in the EU to ensure trade and economic relations with Azerbaijan.

A positive solution to the remaining 10% of unresolved economic issues is not a problem, since Azerbaijan is a partner of the European Union, about half of our country's foreign trade turnover falls on Europe. This means that in practice, many of the nuances of the discussed block of relations between Azerbaijan and the EU have long been resolved.

Responding to a question from Turan about the statement of Armenian leaders, who warned about the veto of Armenia to accept Azerbaijan in the WTO, Musabayov said that this is impossible. "When Armenia joined the WTO, Turkey did not put up its bloc under the condition that Yerevan would not interfere with Azerbaijan in accepting our country into the Trade Organization. The voice of Armenia, if it declares its veto right, will not be taken into account in the WTO," the MP said.

"All the same, Azerbaijan will necessarily and once become a WTO member, then it"s right to resolve these issues now when signing an agreement with the EU," Musabekov said.

He does not believe that Russia will not interfere with Azerbaijan in its striving for rapprochement with the EU, as the painless signing the relevant Armenian-European document did not cause deterioration of Russian-Armenian relations, explained the deputy of the Milli Mejlis.

At the finish

Negotiations between Azerbaijan and the EU on a new agreement can be completed soon, Azerbaijani Foreign Minister Elmar Mammadyarov said at the 16th meeting of the EU-Azerbaijan Cooperation Council in Brussels. "We are very close to the end of our negotiations," the ministry"s press service quotes the minister. "Recently, we were able to synchronize negotiations in all three parts. Today we have pretty good chances, more than 90% have already been agreed ... I think that we can complete the negotiations in the near future," he said.

Mammadyarov noted that the parties began a separate dialogue with the EU in the field of transport. "We are also negotiating a single aviation agreement," he said. In addition, Azerbaijan, together with its partners, is completing the construction of the Southern Gas Corridor, which will allow us to supply more natural gas from Azerbaijan to the EU market. For Europe, it will be a new source of energy. "Azerbaijan has made this possible. EU partners if they want to get more gas from Azerbaijan should make more efforts to make the EU market attractive to Azerbaijan," the Foreign Minister said.