KIEV, Oct. 9 (Xinhua) -- Ukraine will host a session of the NATO Parliamentary Assembly in 2020, its first time, local media reported Monday, citing a senior parliamentary official.
Iryna Friz, head of the Ukrainian parliamentary delegation to the assembly, said at the ongoing 63rd annual session of the assembly that the alliance approved Ukraine's bid to hold the spring session in capital Kiev.
"It is not only a sign of (the) NATO Parliamentary Assembly's support for Ukraine, but also evidence of our close cooperation," Friz was quoted as saying.
Founded in 1955, the assembly serves as a consultative inter-parliamentary body of NATO member states, associate countries and observer delegations. Its sessions are held twice a year in different countries.
Ukraine, though not a NATO member, closely cooperates with the alliance and participates in the latter's Partnership for Peace Program.
Kiev has shown interest in joining NATO in the wake of the conflict between government troops and pro-independence rebels in eastern Ukraine that started in April 2014.
The 63rd annual session of the NATO Parliamentary Assembly got underway in Bucharest, Romania, on Oct. 6.
