On 13^th of May 2019, to mark the 10^th Anniversary of the Eastern Partnership, Khazar University together with the Embassy of Romania organized a panel discussion entitled “The Eastern Partnership: Expectations, Results & Outlook”. The debate brought together three distinguished experts - Mr. Paul IVAN, Senior Policy Analyst at the European Policy Centre; Dr. Farid SHAFIYEV, Chairman at Centre of Analysis of International Relations; Ms. Raziya ISAYEVA, Director of the Khazar University Development Office and Higher Education Reform Expert (HERE) - Erasmus+.

The panel was also attended by Mr. Tural Ganjaliyev, Chairman of the Azerbaijani Community of the Nagorno Karabakh region of the Republic of Azerbaijan; H.E. Mr. Onno Kervers, the Ambassador of Netherlands; H.E. Mr. Nikolay Yankov, the Ambassador of Bulgaria; H.E. Mr. Georgi Leuka, the Ambassador of Moldova; H.E. Mr. Rodrigo Labardini, the Ambassador of Mexico; H.E. Mr. Edward Carwardine, UNICEF representative to the Republic of Azerbaijan; Mr. Christian Kamill, Charge d'affaires of Sweden; Mr. Branko Zebic, Charge d'affaires of Croatia; Mr. Gabriel Jara, Charge d'affaires of Chile; Ms. Melika Yilmaz Oskiper, Consular of Turkish Embassy; Mr. Petro Makarenko, First Secretary of the Embassy of Ukraine; Mr. Owezgeldi Jumanazarow, First Secretary of the Embassy of Turkmenistan; Mr. Oleq Tarasov, Second Secretary of Russian Embassy; Ms. Bak Clara, Policy officer of the French Embassy; Mr. Huseyn Panahov, Political Specialist at the Embassy of the US; Ms. Nigar Jafarova, Economic and Energy Officer of British Embassy.

Dr. Elmar Mustafayev, Head of Political Science and Philosophy Department greeted guests and invited Assoc. Prof. Irada Khalilova, Rector of Khazar University to deliver her welcoming speech. Then H.E. Mr. Dan IANCU, Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary Ambassador of Romania to the Republic of Azerbaijan talked about the first mandate of Romania at the rotating Presidency of the Council of the European Union, its aims at promoting a vision focused on the principle of European cohesion on all dimensions - political, economic and social.

Following the welcome speeches, Mr. Paul IVAN, the first speaker of the panel discussion, gave information on the Eastern Partnership, its importance for the partner countries and the EU, and elaborated on whether this platform managed to bring EaP countries closer to the EU.

Dr. Farid Shafiyev, the second panelist, touched upon EU-Azerbaijan relations, and Eastern Partnership from the perspective of Azerbaijan. He briefed participants about the new negotiated treaty and said that almost 90 percent of the treaty agreed by the parties. According to Dr. Shafiyev, the new agreement will reflect national interests of Azerbaijan.

The panel discussion continued with the presentation of Ms. Raziya Isayeva on the importance of EU funded mobility and capacity building programmes in the development of human capital in Azerbaijan. She demonstrated facts and figures about the EU expenditures for different projects in six EaP countries and informed the audience about tangible and intangible gains of Azerbaijani higher education institutions from the active participation in several EU funded educational programs.

The panel was concluded by welcoming questions from the audience.