Ukraine and Azerbaijan are strategic partners and their ties are developing within friendship and mutual benefit, Ukrainian President Victor Yanukovych said in an interview with Trend before visiting Azerbaijan.
The two states have a unique bilateral structure called the Council of Presidents of Ukraine and Azerbaijan. Yanukovych will visit Azerbaijan for the third session of the council.
He plans to discuss bilateral cooperation in the political, economic, energy, transport, aerospace and other spheres. Economic cooperation should be a basis for other spheres, the president said. Bilateral trade reached $1.6 billion in 2010.
The sides share common ground in most issues of bilateral policy. Enforcing peace, security and stability in OSCE space is a key factor in the economic development of the states and improvement of their standards of living. Ukraine supports the territorial unity and sovereignty of Azerbaijan in the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict.
Ukraine will chair the OSCE in 2013 and will assist in settling "frozen" conflicts.
