"Turkey, Azerbaijan to sign deal to lift visa requirements"

An agreement on the bilateral abolition of the visa regime is expected to be signed between Turkey and Azerbaijan in January 2011, the Turkish Aksam newspaper reported today.

About 20 agreements are expected to be signed by the foreign, interior, commerce, industry, transport, environment, health and defense ministers of the two countries.

Earlier, Azerbaijani Foreign Minister Elmar Mammadyarov said work to abolish the visa regime between Azerbaijan and Turkey is underway. He said "some bureaucratic problems" were preventing the process from developing more quickly. After their elimination, the agreement will be signed, he said.

In addition, according to the newspaper, a meeting between the ministers of the two countries with the participation of Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev and Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan is also expected to be held in March 2011.

After a meeting between Aliyev and Erdogan in Istanbul in September, a joint declaration on the establishment of a council on strategic cooperation was signed between Azerbaijan and Turkey.


/Trend/