Ukraine ready to assist in restoring infrastructure of liberated Azerbaijani lands
“The position of Ukraine regarding the conflict in Nagorno-Karabakh has always been consistent – our state supports the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Azerbaijan within its internationally recognized borders. This principle is fundamental for Ukraine,” the press service of the Ukrainian Foreign Ministry told Report.
The Foreign Ministry reminded that Ukraine was also one of the first to welcome the cessation of hostilities in Nagorno-Karabakh.
“Ukraine believes that the next step should be the restoration of stability and life in the region. In case of interest and appropriate appeal from the leadership of Azerbaijan, the Ukrainian side is ready to provide all kinds of assistance in restoring the civil infrastructure and economy of the affected regions, so that the local population, including of Armenian origin, could return to normal life as soon as possible,” the Foreign Ministry said.
The press service noted that Ukraine has significant experience in such areas as the restoration of infrastructure facilities, the design of industrial and agricultural enterprises, land reclamation, and ecology. These are the important industries that require priority attention for normalizing life.
“If appropriate agreements are reached with the Azerbaijani side, joint work in these areas could be coordinated within the Joint Ukrainian-Azerbaijani Intergovernmental Commission on Economic Cooperation, including with the involvement of additional mechanisms of assistance from the Trade House of Ukraine in Azerbaijan.
The subjects of foreign economic activity of Ukraine are ready for all forms of organizing joint work with Azerbaijani partners. This concerns the design of infrastructure facilities, the supply of high-tech equipment, the implementation of contract and subcontracting work, service and warranty maintenance after the commissioning of facilities or equipment,” the ministry said, adding that in order to discuss these issues in a practical manner, there are plans to hold several meetings of sectoral working groups and expert meetings of the Joint Intergovernmental Commission.
“The results of these events will determine the agenda of the upcoming visit of the Ukrainian government delegation to Azerbaijan and form key tasks in all spheres of trade, economic and investment cooperation between the two countries.
One of the promising areas of Ukrainian-Azerbaijani cooperation is the development of partnership relations between the regions of Ukraine and Azerbaijan. In particular, this includes implementation of the already signed partnership agreements between the cities of Odessa and Ganja, Truskavets and Guba, the Lviv region and the Nakhchivan Autonomous Republic, as well as the preparation of new cooperation agreements between the Ivano-Frankivsk region and the Shamakhi region, between Kharkiv and Baku.
The potential of such cooperation can provide additional dynamics for the development of bilateral trade, economic, cultural and humanitarian cooperation, including taking into account the development of the de-occupied territories of Azerbaijan,” the Foreign Ministry concluded.
Maryna Goncharuk