Azerbaijan and Latvia Abolish Visa Requirements for Holders of Official Passports

A new agreement between Azerbaijan and the European Union might be prepared for the summit of the Eastern Partnership in November this year, the Latvian Foreign Minister Edgars Rinkevics said in Baku on Monday.

He expressed hope that the new agreement will make the partnership strategic.

As a result of the talks between Rinkevics and the Azerbaijani Foreign Minister Elmar Mammadyarov an intergovernmental agreement was signed to abolish the visa regime for holders of official passports.

 "It would be also good to speed up the preparation of an agreement on cooperation in education, as more than 100 Azerbaijani students study in universities of Latvia," the Latvian diplomat said.

According to him, the sides discussed issues of cooperation in tourism.

Mammadyarov, for his part stressed that Baku is also interested in expanding cooperation with the European Union and is currently holding discussions with Brussels on a new agreement on cooperation. "In addition, we have a document on strategic energy partnership. All this creates a good basis to deepen our relations with the EU and to raise them to the strategic cooperation level," Mammadyarov said.

The sides also discussed issues of cooperation in transport.

Latvia is interested in extending the route of the container train Zubr through Ukraine to Azerbaijan and then to China, Rinkevichs said. The container train Zubr is a joint project of the railways of Latvia, Belarus, Ukraine and Estonia.

"Azerbaijan appreciates the route Zubr as an interesting project that politically unites three seas - Black, Caspian and Baltic - and provides the convergence of three different regions. We will not be confined only to the international transport corridor North - South project, the Azerbaijani Foreign Minister Elmar Mammadyarov said.  -06D--