European Commission President Barroso to visit Azerbaijan

EU Commission President José Manuel Barroso will pay a working visit to Azerbaijan on 13-15 June, the EU office in Baku said today.

During the course of the visit, he will have meetings with President Ilham Aliyev, other senior representatives of the Azerbaijani state, hold a lecture on "EU-Azerbaijan – new opportunities and challenges" at the ADA University and pay a visit to the Sangachal oil and gas processing terminal. 

The visit is seen by the EU as an opportunity to reinvigorate EU-Azerbaijan relations and inject new momentum into bilateral negotiations on a new contractual basis of the bilateral relationship. This will be the 2nd visit of President Barroso to Azerbaijan and the 5th meeting of the Presidents during their tenure. The first visit of President Barroso to Baku took place in January 2011 when a Joint Declaration on the Establishment of the Southern Corridor was signed with President Ilham Aliyev.

Prior to visiting Azerbaijan, President Barroso will also visit Moldova and Georgia to underline EU support to close partners in the context of the Eastern Partnership, just two weeks ahead of the signature of the Association Agreements including Deep and Comprehensive Free Trade Area Agreements with both countries scheduled to take place on 27 June during the European Council meeting in Brussels. 

Bakudaily.az