Ensuring that core EU values and rights are respected is one of the conditions for deepening EU-Azerbaijan relations, said MEPs on Wednesday.
further support free and pluralistic media in Azerbaijan with editorial independence from dominant political and oligarchic groups and in line with EU standards.
MEPs hope that if negotiations advance speedily and all key conditions are met the new agreement could be signed before the next EU-Eastern Partnership summit in 2019. They also urge the EU side to ensure that the new agreement does not take effect provisionally until after the European Parliament has given its consent.
EU-Azerbaijan relations are governed by the 1999 Partnership and Cooperation Agreement. Negotiations for a new agreement were launched on February 2017. The EU is Azerbaijan's top trading partner and its biggest export and import market, accounting for 48.6% of Azerbaijan's total trade and providing its largest source of foreign direct investment.