(MENAFN- Trend News Agency)
BAKU, Azerbaijan, August 20. The liberated
Karabakh's demining has cost $349.1 million, with $16.1 million
from international funding, Chairperson of the Azerbaijan Campaign
Against Mines Public Association Hafiz Safikhanov said, Trend reports.
He made the announcement at a press conference dedicated to the
results of the project“Strengthening international support to
Azerbaijan in demining.”
According to him, the Azerbaijani government has forked over a
staggering 110.2 million manat ($64.82 million) from the state
budget to wage war against mines in 2023.
He mentioned that, for the purpose of demining in 2024, the
Kingdom of Saudi Arabia has granted Azerbaijan $3 million in
financial aid. The UAE has set aside $5 million to aid Azerbaijan
with their mine action efforts in 2024.
“The European Union (EU) and ten of its Member States, through
the Team Europe program, have provided the last two million euros
of the ten million euros of financial assistance allocated for mine
action in Azerbaijan. This support will include technical
assistance, skills development, mine risk awareness, and mine
victim assistance. The EU and Member States anticipate augmenting
the assistance to 13 million euros. Within the framework of the
Team Europe initiative and other programs, support for the
humanitarian mine clearance program and mine victims in Azerbaijan
will continue.
Belgium has allocated 250,000 euros to Azerbaijan to support
demining activities in territories liberated from occupation.
Furthermore, the Government of the United Kingdom has allocated
1.5 million pounds sterling over the past three years to mine
action in Azerbaijan. The US has allocated approximately $38
million to Azerbaijan since 1999 to support humanitarian mine
action programs. Since November 2020 to date, $4.5 million has been
allocated to mine action programs, with an additional $2 million
expected.
“Only 4-5 percent of the financial assistance for demining
activities carried out in the Republic of Azerbaijan comes from
international donors. UNDP, UNICEF, UNHCR, the European Union, the
US Department of State, the UK, the Japan Development Agency, and
the Republic of Türkiye have provided financial support to the
activities in this direction in various directions. Specifically,
international financial assistance has been provided for women's
demining teams, demining with the help of mine detection rats,
activities to raise awareness of the threat of explosive ordnance,
and technical support.
The international experts estimate that Azerbaijan will have to
go the whole nine yards and shell out a whopping $25 billion over a
span of 30 years to tackle the issue of demining territories,"
Safikhanov concluded.
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