British Ambassador: Leaving the EU is not a leaving Europe

Brexit is not a leaving from Europe, British Ambassador to Azerbaijan James Sharp said, commenting on Britain's exit from the EU on January 31.

According to him, the implementation process begins on January 31.

"During 2020 we will negasiate a future realtions agreement with the EU. This is a really big deal for us. This (Brexit-ed.), first of all, is the the number one taking back control over our laws, finances, borders, agriculture and so on.

"Second, it will allow us to negasiate trade deals with a lot of countries around the world. For example, rising economies like China, India, and the bigest economy in the world-US. So, we believe that this will give us very great economic opportunities.

"And, third, we are moving from being EU United Kingdom into the global United Kingdom. Because, as you know, Great Britain is a member of the UN Security Council, NATO, G7, and other large organizations. We are already a global power, but this (Brexit-ed.) will allow us to position ourselves as a even more global Great Britain," the ambassador said.

"We are still a European country. We have shared a history, values, and interests with European colleagues. We will also have more controle on foreign policy and will cooperate with EU. Besides, one of the biggest issues we want to cooperate on is climate change. So, this year we will host the UN summit on climate change. We are actually charing at jointly with Italy, the EU member-state. This is a vivid example of our very close cooperation with the EU," he said.