In Baku, over 2500 receive symbolic EU passports

On June 1, the historical centre of Baku has launched a two-day festival "European Town", which has aroused a great interest in residents of the capital of Azerbaijan, the "Caucasian Knot" correspondent reports.

The organizers of the festival, which was held with the aim to expand the knowledge of European values and promote Azerbaijan-EU relations, are the EU representative office in Azerbaijan, Embassies of EU countries and the Azerbaijani European Movement (AEM).

The AEM is the Azerbaijani branch of the International European Movement (IEM) based in Brussels. The IEM is promoting the ideas of peace, democracy, freedom, solidarity and the process of European integration.

The territory of about 5000 square meters house tents dedicated to each of the EU countries. The visitors were offered information materials, culture items and pieces of arts created by the nations of Europe. Every visitor was awarded a symbolic EU passport.

"The 'European Town' is an important instrument that demonstrates the expansion of Azerbaijan-EU relations," Roland Kobiya, the head of the EU representative office in Azerbaijan, said on the eve of opening of the festival. He reminded that later this year, in November, it is planned to sign an EU-Azerbaijan agreement on simplified visa regime.

The "Caucasian Knot" has reported that on May 9, on the occasion of the Day of Europe, the AEM held an action in Baku "European Construction" with the aim to promote European values. The AEM is also preparing a series of actions in the context of the European Olympic Games to be held in Azerbaijan in 2015.