Azerbaijan, NATO discuss expanding demining and security cooperation
Azerbaijani and NATO officials have met in Brussels to discuss expanding cooperation across a range of areas including humanitarian de‑mining, the Science for Peace and Security Program (SPS) on innovative methods of humanitarian de‑mining, and other current and future projects aimed at applying next‑generation high technologies and innovative approaches in de‑mining.
The discussions also covered organizing joint training and workshops in Azerbaijan under the SPS programme, and establishing a NATO Support and Procurement Agency (NSPA) Trust Fund for Azerbaijan, News.Az reports, citing local media.
In addition, the delegation from the Azerbaijan National Agency for Mine Action (ANAMA) highlighted that since November 2020, 410 Azerbaijani citizens have been killed or wounded in land‑mine incidents, emphasizing that landmines seriously hinder the return of former internally displaced persons (IDPs), delay restoration and reconstruction efforts, and cause significant humanitarian, economic and environmental consequences. They also presented information on advanced technologies, such as mechanical demining equipment and new field‑based approaches, that ANAMA uses to tackle the land‑mine problem.
During their visit to NATO headquarters on October 28‑30, the Azerbaijani delegation, led by ANAMA’s Deputy Chairman Samir Poladov, also participated in a meeting of the Ad hoc Working Group on Small Arms and Light Weapons (SALW) and Mine Action (MA) of the Euro‑Atlantic Partnership Council (EAPC) format under the Partnership for Peace framework.
Similar news
