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22 November 2016

By Elena Kosolapova – Trend

A new strategic partnership agreement between Azerbaijan and the EU may have a positive effect on the development of trade relations between Azerbaijan and individual EU countries, including Sweden, Charge d’Affaires of the Swedish Embassy in Azerbaijan Tomas Danestad told reporters in Baku Nov. 22.

The European Council adopted a mandate for the European Commission and the high representative for foreign affairs and security policy to negotiate, on behalf of the EU and its member states, a comprehensive agreement with Azerbaijan on Nov. 14.

The new agreement should replace the 1996 partnership and cooperation agreement and should better take account of the shared objectives and challenges the EU and Azerbaijan face today, said a message on the European Council’s website.

Currently, bilateral relations between the EU and Azerbaijan are regulated on the basis of an agreement on partnership and cooperation that was signed in 1996 and entered into force in 1999.

There was a break in relations between Azerbaijan and the EU, Danestad said, adding that nowadays, another strategic cooperation agreement is needed.

The EU sees Azerbaijan as a part of Europe, Danestad noted.

“Trade turnover [between Azerbaijan and Sweden], as the trade on the global scale, has been coming down in 2016 and it is the same for the whole world,” he said. “There have been some exports of petroleum products and raw materials from Azerbaijan to Sweden. I think a big potential lies within partnership between Swedish and Azerbaijani companies, for instance within the IT sector.”

“I think we will see more of interesting examples of [Azerbaijani-Swedish] partnership development when the agreement on the avoidance of double taxation comes into force,” Danestad added.

He noted that there were visits of Swedish foreign minister, prime minister, the country’s business delegation to Azerbaijan.

“I hope we will see much more of these visits,” he said.