The joint project of the Council of Europe and the European Union on the development of the efficiency of Azerbaijani courts has been completed.

The final conference was held in Baku dedicated to the completion of the joint project of the Council of Europe and the European Union on the theme: "Promoting the  effectiveness of Azerbaijani courts, improving the training of judges, self-management of courts". The project was carried out within the framework of the EU program "Eastern Partnership". The two-year project was carried out in accordance with Azerbaijan's obligations to the Council of Europe on the observance of human rights, the rule of law and democratic principles. Within the framework of the project, the CEPEJ standards of the European Commission for the Efficiency of Justice were applied in the pilot courts.

CEPEJ was established on September 18, 2002 in accordance with the resolution of the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe as an expert organization on the effectiveness of the functioning of justice in the member states of the Council of Europe.

Speaking at the opening of the conference, the head of the Council of Europe office in Baku, Dragana Filipovich noted that the implementation of the project helped to promote close cooperation with the judicial system of Azerbaijan for its development. "The goal of the project was to strengthen the capacity to carry out reforms in the judicial system," she said. Filipovic stressed that in order to reduce the number of applications to the European Court, the national judicial system should be developed.

"In general, the national judicial systems should meet the standards adopted in Europe as much as possible," she said.

Head of the Department of Justice and Legal Cooperation of the Director General of the Council of Europe for Human Rights and the Rule of Law Hannah Junker stressed that in Azerbaijan, as well as in other member countries, the Council of Europe's goal is to create a trustable, accessible to everyone judicial system, thanks to which it is possible to get a quality solution for contentious issues.

"A large number of complaints are connected with long trials, as well as non-execution of judgments," Juncker said. The head of the cooperation department of the European Union representation in Azerbaijan, Geron Vilems, noted that currently the trend in Azerbaijan is the discussion on economic diversification. "For this, it is very important to have a fair judicial system. Just this judicial system that should support economic reforms, "he stressed. -71B-