José Manuel Barroso, President of the European Commission, met in Brussels with Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev to discuss negotiations on an Association Agreement and preparations for the Eastern Partnership Summit to be held at the end of September in Warsaw, Poland.

“Events in our neighborhood have yet again shown how deeply Europe's own security and prosperity are linked to those of our neighbors. It is therefore a strategic imperative to promote democracy and development to our East and South,” Mr. Barroso said after the meeting.

He said the meeting also focused on developments in the neighborhood region and the situation in the South Caucasus. “I underlined the strong EU support for a peaceful resolution of the Nagorno Karabakh conflict. It is high time to make additional efforts to finalize agreement on the so-called "basic principles". Negotiations will resume in two days’ time to discuss the settlement of the conflict. I hope that the two parties will be able to move forward,” the EC President said.