KIEV, December 22. /TASS/. Kazakhstani President Nursultan Nazarbayev said on Monday he is ready to help restore economic cooperation with Ukraine and speed up the peace process in eastern regions of the country.

“The current situation cannot bring any benefit to anyone. Due to the fact that we maintain friendly relations with all countries, we can work on this issue together,” Nazarbayev said.

“I hope that we succeed in making certain decisions and coordinating our actions in order to take measures, which will stop killings of people,” he said.

Nazarbayev stressed the importance of observing the Minsk format.

Poroshenko thanked Nazarbayev for his firm and consistent position for supporting the independence and territorial integrity of Ukraine.

He also stressed the need to use the existing potential of trade, economic, cultural, humanitarian cooperation and relations in other fields. Poroshenko called for launching the work of the intergovernmental commission, which should help remove barriers between both countries.

Nazarbayev said trade turnover [between Kazakhstan and Ukraine] had decreased by one third. Earlier, trade between both countries reached $4 billion, he said, adding “We have a possibility to return to the previous figure.”

“The intergovernmental commission should work hard and find common points. I know there are such opportunities,” Nazarbayev said.

Ukrainian and Kazakhstani leaders agree Minsk agreements lay down foundation for settling Ukraine crisis

The Minsk agreements should be the only foundation for settling the crisis in eastern Ukraine, Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko and his Kazakhstani counterpart Nursultan Nazarbayev told a joint briefing on Monday.

“We firmly agreed to stick to the policy and practice of the Minsk agreements as the foundation for settling the crisis in eastern Ukraine. We are following them,” the two presidents said.

“The position of sovereignty and territorial integrity is inviolable. The whole world is going to mobilize efforts to ensure the peace process on the basis of the Minsk agreements,” Poroshenko said.

President Nazarbayev, in turn, noted that the Minsk agreements were supported by all the sides in conflict and that good and, more importantly, solvable questions were written down in them.

“What happened in Ukraine is terrible. No one could have imagined in the worst of dreams that a conflict and an organized civil war will break out inside the country,” Nazarbayev said.

The Kazakhstani president confirmed that he and President Poroshenko had had an open and friendly discussion on the situation in Ukraine’s Donbas region.

“I know the positions of Ukraine, Russia and Europe. Confrontation and sanctions is a road to nowhere. There is a way out of this situation and it should be used as soon as possible,” Nazarbayev added.

The two leaders also discussed economic cooperation between Ukraine and Kazakhstan. After the talks, they announced that the two countries were resuming military-technological cooperation in full volume. In addition to that, the sides agreed that Kazakhstan would supply coal to Ukraine.