The next stage of negotiations on a new agreement on a strategic partnership between the EU and Azerbaijan will be held at the end of October.

The next stage of negotiations on a new agreement on a strategic partnership between the

EU and Azerbaijan will be held at the end October, Azerbaijani Deputy Foreign Minister

Mahmud Mammad-Guliyev told reporters on Tuesday.

Mammad-Guliyev also added that, political security will also be discussed during this

meeting.

In November 2016, 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.

The new agreement should replace the 1996 partnership and cooperation agreement and

should better take account of the common aims and challenges that the EU and Azerbaijan

face today.

The agreement will follow the principles endorsed in the 2015 review of the European

Neighborhood Policy and offer a renewed basis for political dialogue and mutually beneficial

cooperation between the EU and Azerbaijan.

Currently, bilateral relations between the EU and Azerbaijan are regulated on a base of

partnership and cooperation agreement, which was signed in 1996 and in 1999 entered into

force