Azernews.Az

By Sara Rajabova

The "Southern Gas Corridor" is extremely important for the European Union, according to an annual report of the European Union on the progress of Azerbaijan within European Neighborhood Policy.

The report said Azerbaijan has made great strides in its macroeconomic development, which is carried out, in particular through the further diversification of its economy.

The report noted that the trade turnover between Azerbaijan and the EU amounted to 16.7 million euros in 2014 and that the EU remains the largest trading partner of Azerbaijan.

The "Southern Gas Corridor" is one of priority EU energy project. It aims to diversify routes and sources of supply and thereby increase the energy security of the EU.

The "Southern Gas Corridor" is intended to deliver gas from the Azerbaijani gas condensate field "Shah Deniz" to Europe.

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 a 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.

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

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