15 October 2016, 15:46 GMT
BAKU (Sputnik) – Azerbaijan and the European Union are preparing for the negotiations on signing a new strategic partnership agreement, however the talks unlikely to take place in 2016, Azerbaijan's Deputy Foreign Minister Mahmud Mammadguliyev said Saturday.
"Azerbaijan and the European Union are conducting active preparations to start the negotiations on reaching a new agreement on strategic partnership, but the talks will barely start before the end of the year," Mammadguliyev told reporters.
He added that one of the main aspects of the new accord would be the position of Brussels on Nagorno-Karabakh conflict.
On April 22, 1996, Baku and Brussels signed Partnership and Cooperation Agreement that entered into force on June 22, 1999. The deal created a framework for the political relations between the two sides, as well as for bilateral trade and social and scientific cooperation between Azerbaijan and the 28-nation bloc.
