You're reading: Ukraine ready to initiate talks on peaceful settlement of Nagorno-Karabakh conflict

ST. PETERSBURG – Ukraine is ready to support negotiations on the peaceful resolution of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict in the frames of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe.

"Ukraine favors the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Azerbaijan and supports only a peaceful resolution of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, according to the principles and norms of international law," Verkhovna Rada Chairman Volodymyr Lytvyn told journalists during the meeting with Chairman of the Milli Mejlis of the Republic of Azerbaijan Oqtay Asadov in Saint Petersburg in Russia on Wednesday.

Lytvyn said that Ukraine was ready to offer support in negotiations to settle the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict as a part of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe’s Minsk Group, in particular in the context of Ukraine’s presidency of the OSCE in 2013.

He congratulated Asadov on Azerbaijan’s victory at the elections for temporary members of the United Nations Security Council, and said that Azerbaijan’s work in this organization would favor peace and security.

In turn, Ukraine expects support from Azerbaijan at the elections for temporary members of the UN Security Council for 2016-2017, which are to be held in 2015, the Ukrainian parliament speaker said.

Lytvyn praised the level of Ukrainian-Azeri political dialogue and said that relations between the two countries had a strategic character. Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych and Premier Mykola Azarov also share such opinion, he said.

The speaker also talked of the necessity to intensify the exchange by parliamentary delegations and emphasized that there had been active work by Ukrainian and Azeri MPs during international forums.

Lytvyn said cooperation between parliamentary speakers is an important part of the bilateral parliamentary cooperation, and he would be glad to visit Baku next year.

Asadov said the level of the dialogue between Ukrainian and Azeri presidents was very high and parliaments must support the necessary level of cooperation and the positions of the two countries.