European Union and Azerbaijan

Name of the organization

European Union (EU)

General information about the organization

• The date of foundation:1 November, 1993 .
• Headquarters:Brussels

· Main decision-making institutions of the European are:

- European Parliament

- Council of the EU

- European Council

- European Commission

• Number of member countries:The Union has 27 Member States.

Information about cooperation with Azerbaijan

The legal framework of relations between the Republic of Azerbaijan and the European Union:

· The Partnership and Cooperation Agreement was signed on April 22, 1996 and came into force on July 1, 1999;

· The European Union-Azerbaijan Action Plan adopted on November 14, 2006;

· Memorandum of Understanding aimed at strategic partnership in the field on energy between the EU and Azerbaijan signed on November 7, 2006;

· Framework Agreement between the Government of the Republic of Azerbaijan and the Commission of the European Communities signed on June 16, 2008;

· Eastern Partnership Declaration signed on May 7, 2009;

· “Joint Declaration” on the establishment of the Southern Gas Corridor signed on January 13, 2011;

· “Protocol of Intention” on the establishment of the working group on the Southern Gas Corridor signed on January 13, 2011;

· Memorandum of Understanding on National Indicative Program (NIP) for 2011-2013 within the framework of the EU's European Neighbourhood and Partnership Instrument between the Republic of Azerbaijan and the European Commission signed on January 13, 2011;

· Memorandum of Understanding on Framework Document of Comprehensive Institution Building (CIB) Program between the Republic of Azerbaijan and the EU signed on January 13, 2011 within the framework of Eastern Partnership;

· “Agreement between the European Union and the Republic of Azerbaijan on the facilitation of the issuance of visas” signed on November 29, 2013;

· “Agreement between the European Union and the Republic of Azerbaijan on the readmission of persons residing without authorization” signed on February 28, 2014;

· “Protocol to the Partnership and Cooperation Agreement between the European Communities and their Member States, of the one part, and the Republic of Azerbaijan, of the other part, on a Framework Agreement between the European Union and the Republic of Azerbaijan on the general principles for the participation of the Republic of Azerbaijan in Union programmes”signed on June 14, 2014. The Protocol came into force on June 14, 2016;

· The Partnership Priorities document between the European Union and the Republic of Azerbaijan was initialled on July 11, 2018 and entered into force on September 28;

· “A Memorandum of Understanding on Strategic Partnership in the field of energy between the European Union represented by the European Commission and the Republic of Azerbaijan” was signed between Azerbaijan and the European Union on July 18, 2022.

Assistance Instruments of the European Union

Between 2007 and 2013, the European Neighborhood and Partnership Instrument (ENPI) and between 2014 and 2021, the European Neighborhood Instrument (ENI) were applied. From 2022, European Commission started to apply new Neighborhood, Development and International Cooperation Instrument (NDICI). Within the framework of this instrument, assistance will be provided through twinning, technical assistance, TAIEX and other instruments for the implementation of the European Neighborhood Policy.

Assistance to Azerbaijan within the framework of the NDICI instrument will be directed to the following priority areas defined in the European Union Multiannual Indicative Program for Azerbaijan for the years 2021-2027:

· resilient, sustainable and integrated economies;

· accountable institutions, the rule of law and security;

· environmental and climate resistance;

· resilient digital transformation;

· resilient, gender-equal, fair and inclusive societies.

Twinning Instrument

Twinning is an institution-building tool based on cooperation between the public institutions of the European Union member state and the beneficiary country. This tool covers the improvement and implementation of national legislation in accordance with the legislation and standards of the European Union, as well as administrative and institutional building issues of the relevant state bodies of the beneficiary country, also the components such as increasing the knowledge and competence of employees and strengthening the capacity building. The project of which Ministry of Economy was beneficiary was selected as a one of the four successful projects in 2010 and the project of which Ministry of Economy was beneficiary was one of the three successful projects in 2011 by the European Commission. Twinning project under the beneficiary of the Ministry of Culture and Tourism was selected one of the most successful projects among the implemented projects in all countries during 2014 by the EU, as well as the project under the beneficiary of the State Committee for Standardization, Metrology and Patent during 2016, the project under the beneficiary of the State Agency on Mandatory Health Insurance during 2018 and the project under the beneficiary of Ministry of Ecology and Natural Resources during 2019, respectively.

Overall, 56 Twinning projects have been implemented.

TAİEX Instrument

The Technical Assistance and Information Exchange Instrument (TAIEX) is one of the institution-building instruments managed by the European Commission. This tool was introduced in 1996 by the state institutions of the EU Member States in order to provide technical expertise on EU legislation in all areas for the countries that are preparing to join the European Union.

· 34 TAIEX applications were submitted to the European Commission in 2011. 10 of these applications were on workshop in Azerbaijan, 15 of them were on expert mission and 9 of them were on study visits.

· 39 TAIEX applications were submitted to the European Commission in 2012. 12 of these applications were on workshop in Azerbaijan, 16 of them were on expert mission and 11 of them were on study visits.

· 50 TAIEX applications were submitted to the European Commission in 2013. 16 of these applications were on workshop in Azerbaijan, 20 of them were on expert mission and 14 of them were on study visits.

· 21 TAIEX applications were submitted to the European Commission in 2014. 6 of these applications were on workshop in Azerbaijan, 6 of them were on expert mission and 5 of them were on study visits.

· 54 TAIEX applications were submitted to the European Commission in 2015. 17 of these applications were on workshop in Azerbaijan, 21 of them were on expert mission and 16 of them were on study visits.

· 33 TAIEX applications were submitted to the European Commission in 2016. 13 of these applications were on workshop in Azerbaijan, 6 of them were on expert mission and 14 of them were on study visits.

· 71 TAIEX applications were submitted to the European Commission in 2017.17 of these applications were on workshop in Azerbaijan, 22 of them were on expert mission and 30 of them were on study visits, 2 of them were series of events.

· 100 TAIEX applications were submitted to the European Commission in 2018. 24 of these applications were on workshop in Azerbaijan, 33 of them were on expert mission and 37 of them were on study visits, 6 of them were series of events.

· 22 TAIEX applications were submitted to the European Commission in 2019. 3 of these applications were on workshop in Azerbaijan, 7 of them were on expert mission and 9 of them were on study visits, 3 of them were series of events.

· 23 TAIEX applications were submitted to the European Commission in 2020. 4 of these applications were on study visit, 10 of them were on expert mission and 9 of them were on workshop in Azerbaijan.

· 26 TAIEX applications were submitted to the European Commission in 2021. 11 of these applications were on workshop, 8 of them were on study visits, 7 of them were on expert mission to Azerbaijan.

· 29 TAIEX applications were submitted to the European Commission in 2022. 7 of these applications were on workshop, 11 of them were on study visits, 9 of them were on expert mission to Azerbaijan.

· 40 TAIEX applications were submitted to the European Commission in 2023. 13 of them were on study visits, 8 of them were on workshops, 16 of them were on expert mission to Azerbaijan and 3 of them were series of events.

SIGMA

The Support for Improvement in Governance and Management (SIGMA) is a joint initiative of the European Union and the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development and is mainly financed by the EU. The program supports the improvement of public administration and management systems, including public procurement.

Totally, 15 SIGMA projects were implemented.