By Azernews
By Sabina Mammadli
The Aghdam Industrial Park's entire 190-hectare territory has been completely cleared of mines and unexploded ordnance, Day.az has reported.
Work is underway to create a favorable investment environment for entrepreneurs in the park, which was created to restore Karabakh and develop its industrial potential.
In the near future, work on creating an infrastructure system for residents will set off in the park.
It should be noted that today, the status of a resident in the Aghdam Industrial Park has been granted to seven business entities. Along with this, entrepreneurs are now submitting projects to the Economic Zone Development Agency to become residents of the park, and the agency is analyzing these projects.
In a separate statement, it was reported that the mine and unexploded ordnance clearance operations carried out in Karabakh by the Azerbaijan Mine Action Agency involve MV-10 and MV-4 mechanical demining vehicles manufactured by the Croatian company DOC-ING.
It was noted that a contract was made with the company for the supply of 11 machines for mechanical demining, 10 of which have already been handed over to the agency. Another one is planned to be delivered before the end of the first half of this year.
“The MV-10 vehicles used in humanitarian demining activities are controlled remotely - at a distance of up to 3,000 meters, and the MV-4 vehicles - at a distance of up to 1,500 meters. They can operate in areas with a large slope and hard soil cover," the statement said.
One of the main directions of the "Great Return" program is the creation of favorable conditions for the safe return and resettlement of citizens by clearing the territory of Karabakh from mines and unexploded ordnance. Due to this large-scale demining operations are being carried out in the liberated territories using all three methodologies of humanitarian demining activities.
Armenia submitted to Azerbaijan all mine maps of liberated territories as a result of talks held through the Russian Defence Ministry's mediation on December 4, 2021.
Azerbaijan's senior officials have repeatedly stated that the low accuracy of Armenia's minefield maps of liberated territories slows the mine-clearance process.
"The demining operations are underway, but people are still losing their lives. From the end of the 44-day Second Karabakh War to the present, over 200 people have become victims of mine explosions in liberated lands," Azerbaijani Foreign Minister Jeyhun Bayramov said earlier.
He added that the high mine contamination of the liberated territories hinders the return of former internally displaced persons to their native lands.
It should be noted that Azerbaijan's Mine Action Agency, along with the partner countries, carries out demining activities on its liberated territories. Moreover, the State Border Service, the Defence Ministry and the Emergencies Ministry also demine the liberated lands.
Armenia deliberately and constantly planted mines on Azerbaijani territories, in violation of the 1949 Geneva Convention, thereby being a major threat to regional peace, security and cooperation.
Previously, on June 12, Azerbaijan handed over 15 Armenian prisoners in exchange for a map detailing the location of 97,000 mines in formerly-occupied Aghdam.
On July 3, Armenia submitted to Azerbaijan maps of about 92,000 anti-tank and anti-personnel mines planted during the occupation of Fuzuli and Zangilan regions.
Azerbaijan and Armenia signed a Russia-brokered peace agreement on November 10, 2020, to end 44 days of fighting and work toward a comprehensive resolution.
