Transparency in financing the political parties in Azerbaijan is extremely important, says Malena Mard, head of the EU delegation to Azerbaijan.

She made the remarks June 7 at a seminar on transparency in political party financing, organized by Azerbaijan’s Central Election Commission (CEC) and the Council of Europe/the European Union in Baku, within the project titled “Strengthening capacities to fight and prevent corruption in Azerbaijan.”

“The political parties play an important role in building a democratic society,” noted Mard. “In some countries the political parties face problems, including the financial ones.”

“Meanwhile, the role of political parties is great in terms of formation of common political values, and in this area we can cooperate with Azerbaijan,” she added.

Head of the Azerbaijani CEC Mazahir Panahov, in turn, spoke about the activities of the political parties in Azerbaijan.

“Azerbaijan has created all the conditions for activities of political parties,” said Panahov.

He also believes that the activities of the political parties in Azerbaijan, in particular their financial reports, should be transparent.

“Azerbaijan has adopted a law on presentation of financial reports by the parties, in connection with which the CEC involved additional staff,” said Dragana Filipovic, head of the Council of Europe’s Baku Office.

“We also will make our contribution to this,” added Filipovic.