Azernews.Az

By Amina Nazarli

Azerbaijan along with other Eastern Partnership states and European Union member states joined the 4th Eastern Partnership Business Forum Digital Economy: Innovative Platform for Transparent Borderless Business that kicked off in Tallinn on October 26.

The event brining together more than 450 business leaders, politicians and government officials from Azerbaijan, Belarus, Georgia, the Republic of Moldova, Armenia, Ukraine and the EU, is one of the key side events being held in preparation for the 5th EaP Summit scheduled for November 24 in Brussels.

Estonian President Kersti Kaljulaid, addressing the forum participants said that the Eastern Partnership is an extremely important instrument in relations between the European Union and the partner countries.

“We need to have Eastern Partnership countries close to ourselves and have it always in our minds,” said the president.

Kaljulaid pointed out that Eastern Partnership is the central element of the EU partner policy. Moreover, she noted that Eastern Partnership countries themselves are responsible for development of their basic qualities, business societies and civil societies.

“They are responsible for the rule of law, economic environment,” added the president. Estonian president noted that today's business forum is not only a landmark event, but also a road map in EU cooperation with its partners.

Speaking at the forum on behalf of Azerbaijan, Vusal Gasimli, Executive Director at Azerbaijani Center for Economic Reforms and Communication said that Azerbaijan is an alternative source to ensure energy security of the European Union (EU).

“Azerbaijan switched to new economic model. We started our main economic reforms agenda. Our first direction is of course institutional reforms. Within the last one year Azerbaijan has established a lot of new institutions like financial stability council, center for analysis of economic reforms and communication and other institutional setups to run, to accelerate economic reforms in Azerbaijan,” said Gasimli.

He went on to add that the second direction is the improvement of business environment.

"Over the last one year, Azerbaijan provided more than 200 amendments to Tax Code, as well as to the Customs Code. For our efforts in this field, World Economic Forum ranked Azerbaijan 35th country among 140 countries. According to Global Competitiveness Report, Azerbaijan is the best among CIS countries as well," he said.

The third direction is business initiatives, said Gasimli, adding that today Azerbaijan provides about 60 agroparks, technoparks, and industrial parks.

"The last point is our strategic roadmaps. We give big opportunity to Azerbaijani business to be involved in global economy," he added.

Gasimli noted that Azerbaijan is the largest trade partner of the EU in the South Caucasus.

"Azerbaijan involved more European investment in the South Caucasus. Azerbaijan is an alternative source to ensure energy security of EU. We are looking forward for new perspectives in terms of cooperation with EU," he added.

EIB may finance TANAP and TAP

The European Investment Bank may allocate funds for TANAP and TAP, two giant projects through which Azerbaijani gas will go to Europe.

Vazil Hudak, EIB Vice-President, talking to Trend on the sidelines of the event, said that the Bank hopes to make a decision on financing the two projects soon.

“TANAP and TAP are certainly important projects fasor Europe, as well as for Azerbaijan and for the Eurasian space. EIB is one of the potential financial partners in these projects. Our position is very much linked to the position of the EU towards not only Azerbaijan, but also Turkey and other countries which are a part of these projects. We are discussing and coordinating also with European Commission and member states and the decision will be done pretty soon,” he said.

Hudak noted that timing of decision making depends on not only the EIB, but also on the coordination with the European Commission and member states.

"It is very difficult to say the exact timing, but we will try to do it as soon as possible. It is too early to talk about the exact amount of financing," he added.

TANAP project envisages transportation of gas from Azerbaijan's Shah Deniz field to the western borders of Turkey. The gas will be delivered to Turkey in 2018 and after completion of the Trans Adriatic Pipeline's construction the gas will be delivered to Europe in early 2020.

TAP project envisages transportation of gas from Azerbaijan's Shah Deniz Stage 2 to the EU countries. The pipeline will be connected to the TANAP on the Turkish-Greek border, run through Greece, Albania and the Adriatic Sea, before coming ashore in Italy's south.

Hudak further said that the Bank supports infrastructure and environmental projects in Eastern Partnership countries from Lviv to Baku.

He noted that up to now, the EIB has allocated $8 billion to projects in Eastern Partnership countries. It is a big figure, he said, adding that the EIB also focuses on the development of digital economy.

In Azerbaijan, the EU assists companies with funding, training, and export support to new markets through the EU4Business initiative. Since 2009, 444 million manats (€222 million) has been provided in total for 14,000 Azerbaijani companies.

EU relations with Azerbaijan date back to 1991 and are based on the EU-Azerbaijan Partnership and Cooperation Agreement, which provides for wide-ranging cooperation in the areas of political dialogue trade, investment, economic matters, legislation and culture. Since then, the EU has gradually expanded the scope of its cooperation with Azerbaijan.

Today EU is discussing a closer relationship with Azerbaijan. The Council adopted a mandate for the European Commission and the High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy on November 14, 2016 to negotiate, on behalf of the EU and its member states, a comprehensive agreement with the Republic of Azerbaijan. The new agreement should replace the Partnership and Cooperation Agreement and better take account of the shared objectives and challenges the two sides face today.