Azerbaijan, UK mull region, Ukraine crisis

By Azernews

By Vugar Khalilov

Azerbaijani Foreign Minister Jeyhun Bayramov and UK Minister of State for European Neighbourhood and the Americas James Cleverley have discussed regional issues, especially the situation in Ukraine, the ministry reported on March 1.

In a telephone conversation the sides reviewed current bilateral cooperation, as well as other topics of mutual interest, the report added.

Azerbaijani Deputy Foreign Minister Araz Azimov earlier said that the situation around Ukraine should be resolved peacefully and in line with international law.

Azimov made the remarks at the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) Permanent Council’s special online meeting chaired by Poland.

Azimov stressed that the current situation in Ukraine must be resolved peacefully and diplomatically in line with the norms and principles of international law, including the sovereignty of states, territorial integrity, inviolability of borders, as well as the indivisibility of security in the OSCE area, the ministry said.

The deputy minister underlined that the situation in and around Ukraine is a matter of serious concern and an urgent dialogue is needed to prevent the situation from deteriorating further.

Noting that the escalation of the situation caused casualties, Azimov expressed condolences to the families and relatives of the victims.

Azerbaijan and the UK established a positive trade balance of $108.810 million in January 2022. Meanwhile, there was a negative balance of $20.008 million in January of last year.

Azerbaijan and the UK are cooperating in different spheres of the economy. There are already 30 years of successful cooperation between the two countries in the oil and gas sector, which entered a new stage of development in line with the challenges of the global energy sector. The energy sector accounts for $ 28.8 billion out of $ 30.6 billion of the UK investments in Azerbaijan's economy. The UK is also the biggest investor in Azerbaijan.

It should be noted that the trade turnover between the two countries amounted to $667.8 in 2021. Of the total turnover, Azerbaijani exports to the UK amounted to $396.6 million while import was $271.1 million.

On February 24, Russian President Vladimir Putin announced that in response to the appeal of the leaders of the so-called "Donetsk People's Republic" and "Lugansk People's Republic" decided to conduct a special military operation in Eastern Ukraine.

The Ukrainian authorities introduced martial law throughout the entire territory. Ukrainian media report explosions in a number of cities.