Azernews.Az

By Sara Rajabova

President of the European Council Donald Tusk was officially welcomed in Baku on July 22.

A guard of honor was lined up for the distinguished guest at the square decorated with the national flags of Azerbaijan and the European Council.

The chief of the guard of honor reported to President Ilham Aliyev.

President Aliyev welcomed President of the European Council Donald Tusk. Afterwards, the chief of the guard of honor reported to Tusk.

The anthems of Azerbaijan and the European Union were played.

Then, Azerbaijan’s state and government officials were introduced to Tusk and members of the European Council’s delegation were introduced to President Aliyev.

Tusk arrived in Azerbaijan for an official visit on July 21.

The EU and Azerbaijan are maintaining relations under the Partnership and Cooperation Agreement, which was signed in 1996 and came into force in 1999.

Since then the PCA has provided the legal framework for EU-Azerbaijan bilateral relations in the areas of political dialogue, trade, investment, economic, legislative and cultural cooperation.

Azerbaijan is also included in the EU program on "Eastern Partnership" adopted on the initiative of Poland and Sweden and approved at the EU summit in Brussels in 2008.

The goal of the program is the rapprochement between the EU and Azerbaijan, Ukraine, Armenia, Moldova, Georgia, Belarus. The program envisages significant increase in the level of political interaction, large integration of former Soviet republics into EU economy, increasing the volume of financial aid to them and strengthening the energy security.

--

Sara Rajabova is AzerNews’ staff journalist, follow her on Twitter: @SaraRajabova

Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAz