BAKU. Dec 7 (Interfax) - Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev and acting Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan spoke on the sidelines of an unofficial meeting between the CIS heads of state in St. Petersburg, Hikmet Hajiyev, the head of the Azerbaijani presidential administration's foreign policy department, said in an interview with the state news agency AzerTAC.
"The conversation included discussions of the continuation of active talks to settle the Armenian-Azerbaijani conflict and the strengthening of the ceasefire agreements," Hajiyev said.
These two issues are closely interrelated and mutually complement each other, he said.
"The situation on the line of contact between the forces and along the border has been relatively calm recently, which produces a very good background for holding substantive and intensive negotiations on settling the conflict. This absolutely shouldn't lead to freezing the conflict or preserving the unacceptable status quo," Hajiyev said.
Azerbaijan wants to modify the status quo with respect to Nagorno-Karabakh as soon as possible, Hajiyev said. "The importance of changing the status quo has been repeatedly highlighted at the level of the heads of the OSCE Minsk Group co-chair countries. Negotiations on settling the conflict should lead to the restoration of territorial integrity and sovereignty within the framework of internationally recognized borders," he said.
Aliyev and Pashinyan also discussed a prisoners swap between Azerbaijan and Armenia, Hajiyev said.
He also commented on direct communication between the two countries. "Such communication does exist, but not at the level of the heads of state, or foreign ministers, or defense ministers. It is at a lower level and is used when necessary," he said.