BAKU, Azerbaijan, September 1. The Azerbaijan
National Agency for Mine Action (ANAMA) and NATO have discussed
cooperation in the field of humanitarian demining.
This was announced in a statement published by ANAMA following a
meeting between Deputy Chairman of the Board of Directors, Samir
Poladov, and the delegation led by Head of NATO's Arms Control,
Disarmament and Non-Proliferation Division, Eirini
Lemos-Maniati.
According to the information, during the meeting, discussions
were held on the current state of cooperation between Azerbaijan
and NATO in the field of humanitarian mine clearance, the
importance of support from international partners in this
direction, the progress of the project implemented within the
Science for Peace and Security (SPS) Program on the application of
innovative methods of humanitarian mine clearance, as well as
Azerbaijan's participation in other current and future projects
within this program aimed at applying new generation high
technologies and innovative methods to mine clearance
activities.
Deputy Chairman of the ANAMA Board of Directors, Poladov,
announced in the course of the meeting that 437 Azerbaijani
citizens have been killed or injured as a result of mine incidents
since November 2020. He emphasized that mines create serious
obstacles to the return of former internally displaced persons to
their homelands, slow down recovery and reconstruction work, and
cause significant humanitarian, economic and environmental
consequences.
In addition, Poladov informed the NATO delegation about ANAMA’s
operations, the activities of the Goygol Training Center, as well
as ANAMA’s international partnerships in the field of humanitarian
demining.
The meeting is another indicator of the long-term cooperation
between Azerbaijan and NATO in the field of humanitarian demining.
This cooperation covers the clearance of mines and other explosive
ordnance, the application of new technologies in humanitarian
demining activities, and the successful implementation of many
joint projects.
