“I raised many times these issues and also yesterday during the meeting with Mr. President Michel, I even suggested the European Commission to look at the opportunity to finance from the funds demining in Azerbaijan,” President of the Republic of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev said while responding to the question “Demining is a very sensitive and important and strategical activity if you really want let people – Azerbaijanis, to come back to the liberated territories, to live, to settle you have to guarantee the safety of these places. So, I was surprised but why are you not surprised that such delicate issues of demining have not pushed the European Union to act urgent?” in an interview with the Italian “Il Sole 24 Ore” newspaper in Brussels on December 15, during his working visit to Brussels, APA reports.

“I said okay, don’t give the money to us. Provide financial support to European companies which are involved in demining and let them come to Azerbaijan, and to start this work. Because physically it’s not possible for Azerbaijan to do it in a short period of time. Plus, it is very costly. You are absolutely right, without demining we cannot bring people back. They have been waiting for that for almost thirty years. Now the huge reconstruction started but the areas which are being under reconstruction are demined but the rest part is not. So, people who will go back will face serious problems and threats to their lives. So, I hope that after this communications there will be more clarity about that, but of course our needs are not limited only by demining. Everything is destroyed. There are no cities, no villages-nothing-they are destroyed totally. Our position is that the level of support whether it’s financial donations or loans to Armenia and to Azerbaijan must be at the same level,” the head of the state noted.

Source: Azeri-Press News Agency