New joint projects presented today in Baku by the Delegation of the European Union and the Council of Europe to be carried out in Azerbaijan in 2019-2021 under the second phase of the joint Partnership for Good Governance (PGGII) programme aim at assisting the authorities in fighting and preventing money laundering and supporting the judicial reform.

Zoltan Hernyes, Head of the Council of Europe Office in Azerbaijan, said: “Open and constructive trilateral cooperation between the Council of Europe, European Union and the national stakeholders of Azerbaijan will continue to be a key in the successful implementation of the two country-specific and three regional PGG projects and will contribute to the respect of the commitment of Azerbaijan to the Council of Europe and to the achievement of the objectives set for 2020 deliverables .”

Ambassador Kestutis Jankauskas, Head of the EU Delegation in Azerbaijan, stressed: “Good governance has been high on the agenda in all existing documents guiding EU/Azerbaijan cooperation: a Partnership and Cooperation Agreement, 20 deliverables for 2020 of the Eastern Partnership and the recently signed Partnership priorities. EU/CoE PGG is one of the means to advance in particular,on strengthening efficiency of the judiciary, anti-money laundering measures and gender equality”.

“We are entering the active part of the second phase of PGG which will be more streamlined, and let us up hope will bring more tangible results. Close interaction with all partner agencies will continue troughout phase II to ensure that projects are in line with the priorities identified within our cooperation agenda with the Council of Europe, notably the CoE Action plan”, stated Farah Ajalova, Deputy Director, Department of Human Rights and Democracy, Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Azerbaijan.

Two country-specific projects will be implemented in Azerbaijan in 2019-2021, with a total budget of some 1.6 million euros, funded by the EU and Council of Europe.

In addition to these country-specific projects, Azerbaijan is also taking part in three regional projects aimed at fighting economic crimes, combatting discrimination and facilitating access of women to justice.

 Full press release EN | AZE

• For more information about Azerbaijan country-specific projects.
• For more information about Regional projects.