Between July 2015 and March 2017 the European Commission for the Efficiency of Justice (CEPEJ) and judicial authorities of the Republic of Azerbaijan co-operated actively to improve the efficiency of courts and the quality of judicial services. Designated pilot courts and the Justice Academy of Azerbaijan implemented tools developed by the CEPEJ in their day-to-day activities. This cooperation is part of the Project "Support to increased efficiency of courts, improved training of judges and judicial self-governance in Azerbaijan”, under the CoE/EU Eastern Partnership Programmatic Cooperation Framework 2015-2017, financed by the European Union and implemented by the Council of Europe.

The  final conference on 4 April will serve as a platform for highlighting the results and best practices achieved by the pilot courts and other major actors of the justice sector, after learning about and putting in practice the CEPEJ tools. Representatives from all courts of Azerbaijan and main justice sector stakeholders are invited to hear about the CEPEJ tools and to discuss the concrete achievements of the pilot courts after applying them in practice. A team of CEPEJ experts representing the Netherlands, Switzerland, Slovenia, Estonia and Italy concluded on the 2-year cooperation process and will present a detailed final report on the court coaching programme, including an assessment of the pilot court’s results and a set of recommendations in view of further dissemination of CEPEJ tools in all courts of Azerbaijan.

Following the conference, on 5 April,  the Project will conduct the last meeting of its Steering Group. The participants, including representatives from the  Delegation of the European Union to Azerbaijan, Ministry of Justice,  Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Judicial-Legal Council, Justice Academy and other partners from Azerbaijan, as well as experts of CEPEJ and representatives of the Council of Europe Office, will discuss the large array of activities implemented as part of the Project and the level of achievement of its objectives. The remaining challenges for judicial efficiency and quality, as well as the perspectives of future cooperation in this area between Azerbaijan, Council of European and European Union will be also discussed.

Presentation of the project