Azerbaijan says cooperation with EU is a priority

Cooperation with the European Union is one of Azerbaijan’s foreign policy priorities, Deputy Foreign Minister Mahmud Mammadquliyev has said.Speaking at a meeting of the EU-Azerbaijan Cooperation Council in Brussels on Dec. 9, Mammadquliyev said his country is seeking to bring in the best European standards and experience in modernization.The unresolved conflict with Armenia over the Nagorno-Karabakh region is holding up Azerbaijan’s integration into the EU, Mammadquliyev said, adding that the EU could play an important role in the resolution of the conflict. “This is not only a problem of Azerbaijan and Armenia but also the entire region,” he said, according to Trend.

Armenia captured nearly 20 percent of Azerbaijan’s internationally-recognized territory, including Nagorno-Karabakh and seven surrounding districts, in a war after the Soviet breakup in 1991. The war ended with a Russia-brokered ceasefire in 1994 but the sides have yet to sign a peace agreement.

ANN.Az