Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev and Armenian Acting Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan had a conversation at the event in St. Petersburg, Deputy Head of the Foreign Policy Affairs Department of the Azerbaijani Presidential Administration Hikmet Hajiyev said in an interview with Trend on Dec. 7.

He stressed that at the invitation of Russian President Vladimir Putin, President Aliyev took part in the unofficial summit of the CIS heads of state on Dec. 6.

"An unofficial summit of the CIS heads of state was held in Moscow in 2017,” he said. “At these summits, the views on the work carried out during the year within the CIS are exchanged, directions for further activity are discussed.”

“The St. Petersburg informal summit was held in a sincere atmosphere,” Hajiyev said. “There was a joint dinner for the presidents. Then, the presidents watched the 'Nutcracker' ballet at the Mariinsky Theater.”

“I would like to stress that while watching the ballet, President Aliyev was sitting to the right of President Putin, which testifies to special respect for the president and his personality,” Hajiyev added.

President Aliyev had conversations and discussions on the issues of mutual interest with all the heads of state participating in the event, he said.

"President Aliyev talked with Pashinyan during the event,” he added. “Discussions were held to continue active negotiations on the settlement of the Armenia-Azerbaijan Nagorno-Karabakh conflict and observe the ceasefire regime."

trend.az