Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what recent discussions he has had with his Azerbaijani counterparts on the recent blockade in the Lachin corridor and its humanitarian impact.

The UK Government has made clear that the closure of the Lachin corridor during winter risks severe humanitarian consequences. I [Minister Docherty] issued a statement highlighting the importance of re-opening the Lachin corridor on 13 December and our Ambassadors in the region and other senior UK officials have reinforced this message with key interlocutors. We also called for early resolution of this issue in our interventions in Vienna at the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) on 15 December and in New York at the UN Security Council on 20 December. We engage regularly with the governments of Azerbaijan and Armenia and urge them to abide by all ceasefire commitments in good faith. This is consistent with our support for international efforts to facilitate a sustainable and peaceful settlement to the conflict.