BAKU AND BRUSSELS GETTING CLOSER

Practically the whole of September has been European Union month in Azerbaijan. At the start of the month Foreign Minister Elmar Mammadyarov, Economic Development Minister Heydar Babayev and a large group of civil society representatives, mainly from the Azerbaijani National Society to Support European Integration, attended a conference in Brussels entitled "Shared challenges, shared futures: taking the neighbourhood policy forward". European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso said in his introductory speech at the conference that all the countries of the continent are facing common challenges and this necessitates mutual work and cooperation. Barroso said that the European Union's relations with Ukraine and Azerbaijan are an "excellent example" for the new partnerships to be concluded with Algeria and Egypt. Addressing the plenary session, Elmar Mammadyarov once again confirmed our country's commitment to European integration and stated the Azerbaijani government's intention to fulfil its commitments in this respect.

The European Union's positive assessment of cooperation with our country at first sight looks rather unexpected. After all, Azerbaijan's inclusion in the European Neighbourhood Policy is not proceeding very quickly. The Indicative Programme has not yet been finished or signed under which 90 million euros will be allocated over three years to specific programmes agreed between Baku and Brussels. Maybe this sum does not appear very large to Azerbaijani officials, spoilt by the increasing oil revenue, but it can and must be used to maximum advantage. It is no secret that the country has serious problems in political and civil freedoms, the legal system, corruption etc., but the energy component of relations with Azerbaijan appears to be more important to Brussels at the moment and the sides seem to be in full agreement about this.

The committee made up of members of the Milli Maclis and European Parliament held its eighth joint meeting in mid-September in Baku. These meetings, which began in 1999, are held between Azerbaijani and European parliamentarians and alternate between Brussels and Baku. Azerbaijani Deputy Premier Abid Sarifov, who is also chairman of the State Commission on Euro-Integration, summarized the results of cooperation with the European Union. He said that after the successful completion of the TACIS programme Azerbaijan is actively developing links with the European Union within the ENP format and intends to continue this in future.

The European Parliament deputies had discussions with their Azerbaijani counterparts, led by Milli Maclis deputy speaker Valeh Alasgarov. They also had meetings in the defence, foreign and justice ministries amongst others. Almost all aspects and areas of relations between Azerbaijan and the European Union were discussed, from the economy to education and culture. Special attention was paid to regional development and resolving the Armenian-Azerbaijani conflict. The head of the MEPs' delegation, Marie Anne Isler Beguin, commented in particular upon Azerbaijan's desire to be an EU member and stressed that not only energy issues, but also human rights and especially freedom of expression and the press were important to the EU.

Relations between Brussels and Baku really are progressing. The opening of a plenipotentiary EU representative office in the Azerbaijani capital, which is expected to happen by the end of the year, is further confirmation of this. European integration has been declared a foreign policy priority for Azerbaijan. The National Security Concept, confirmed by President Ilham Aliyev, refers directly to the priority of Euro-Atlantic integration alongside a commitment to a balanced foreign policy. This is only natural, as Europe is our country's main trade partner. It accounts for more than 60 per cent of Azerbaijan's foreign trade turnover. It is from Europe that we receive advanced technology which we use as a basis to modernize our infrastructure, industry and agriculture, and we learn modern management and other skills from Europe too.

Azerbaijan is following its European policy direction not only through building partnerships with Brussels, but also through reinforcing and developing bilateral political and economic relations with EU member states. These include not only leading powers such as France, Germany, Great Britain and Italy, but also Poland, Romania and Lithuania. The experience of the latter is especially interesting and instructive for us, as not so long ago they too, like Azerbaijan, were captive to the collapsing Soviet-communist system, but as a result of successful reforms became full members of NATO and the European Union. Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev's recent, packed visit to Lithuania should be viewed in this light. As Lithuanian President Valdas Adamkus said during the visit, Vilnius is ready to share its experience in entering the EU market and also in areas such as European standardization, price barriers, the legislative base and legal reforms. He also offered his country as a friendly lobbyist for Azerbaijan in the corridors of NATO and the EU in Brussels.

Of course, experience and friendly support will do no harm, but the Azerbaijani government, business and civil society has to do most of the work on European integration themselves. Like the other members of the ENP, we are faced with the task of absorbing and including in our own legislation around 80,000 pages of legal text, applied in the European Union countries. Legislative convergence is an important condition for partner countries to gain benefit from cooperation with the EU. This does not just mean participating in integration programmes and receiving technical assistance, but, more importantly, access to the gigantic European market and the wide area of progress, freedom, security and lawfulness created through many years of hard work by the EU member countries. 

Azerbaijan's GUAM partners use association agreements concluded with the EU in their European integration efforts. They have economic integration and political partnership at their heart. Alongside the negotiating process, Ukraine, Moldova and Georgia are also working to strengthen mutual business activity, establish direct contacts at the regional level and pass the most up-to-date legislation that fully conforms to EU requirements.

There are a very great many types of association agreement with the European Union and they cannot be reduced to one specific type. Some documents refer to the prospect of EU membership for the partner state, while others do not. Some of the agreements are highly detailed, allow for movement towards greater integration and encompass a very wide circle of areas for cooperation and interaction. It is important for the officials working on Azerbaijan's European integration strategy to know and take into consideration all these particularities and nuances. The strategy is being implemented through the national Action Plan which sets stages on Azerbaijan's road to integration, specifies events, allocates resources to them and specifies the ministries and officials responsible.

Partnership with the European Union in the ENP context should be used directly to resolve vitally important problems for our country and region as a whole. Brussels is expected to step up its activity to get the Karabakh settlement process moving again. The EU's special representative to the South Caucasus, Peter Semneby, said recently that "The European Union will direct its efforts at supporting and continuing the work of the OSCE Minsk Group. We can do a great deal to create an atmosphere of trust and contacts between the communities of Nagornyy Karabakh. Only we have this opportunity as we are developing strategic cooperation between Azerbaijan and Armenia." Brussels is offering financial stimuli for reaching a settlement and showing its readiness to allocate substantial sums to rehabilitate land ravaged by war and occupation. However, indirect cultural and civilizing factors can be just as effective as direct political and economic tools. European integration that makes borders transparent and legal norms universal and that creates the right financial and economic conditions can help to overcome Armenian-Azerbaijani and Armenian-Turkish antagonism on the basis of strengthening a European identity common to the conflicting sides.

It is obvious that the main factors pushing European integration forward are the governments of the countries in the ENP and EU. But it is not worth expecting sustainable, long-term results if business and civil society are not included in the process. The Azerbaijani National Committee to Support European Integration, which brings together well-known representatives of civil society, the heads of leading NGOs and independent experts, has been recognized by both the European Union and Azerbaijani government. Frequent consultations between EU representatives and the committee's co-chairs (of which the author is one at present) and members and this summer's joint conference with the Foreign Ministry are evidence of this. 

But it is important not to stop at dialogue. It is important that wide sectors of the population directly monitor European integration and feel the benefits. This makes the question of simplifying the visa regime between the European Union and Azerbaijan highly topical. Very many countries, including Russia, have overtaken us in this. Azerbaijani business will feel the practical benefit of European integration when it can put its products and services on the European markets. This is entirely feasible, as can be seen from the example of Moldova, which recently concluded a free trade agreement with the EU. We still have not decided the question of joining the WTO. Another capacity provided by the ENP is to use sub-regional cooperation, for example the EU's Black Sea initiative. Expanding educational, scientific and cultural programmes in the European area and easing and formalizing labour migration could make European integration tangible for citizens and give it real content.

Although, according to opinion polls, Azerbaijan's European integration enjoys the wide support of the population, there is still a need for information campaigns on the significance of ENP involvement for Azerbaijan. It would be no bad thing to follow Georgia's example and promote European symbols (mini-flags, stickers, caps and T-shirts). If Euro-Atlantic integration has been declared a priority for Azerbaijan at the state level, it would be effective to back this up academically and analytically by creating a special Institute for the Problems of European Integration. Similar structures have been set up and are operating in Russia, Ukraine and other European countries. 

At the end of September the joint commission met to hear the first results of Azerbaijan's participation in the ENP. Satisfaction at a successful start must not eclipse the presence of major capacity and potential to increase cooperation between the sides in all areas. It must also not be forgotten when tackling specific political and economic issues that Azerbaijan's sustainable integration with the European Union is possible only on the basis of the assimilation of European values, at the core of which are respect for human rights, the law and tolerance. And in this, almost everything depends on us ourselves.