BAKU, Azerbaijan, January 25. The UK wants to assist the return of Azerbaijani IDPs to the liberated territories, Fergus Auld, UK Ambassador to Azerbaijan, told Trend.
"The UK for many years has been supporting IDP communities across Azerbaijan. Now, we want to be part of helping IDPs finally to return home. Demining is essential to enable this. The UK government was pleased to be one of the first international partners for the Azerbaijan National Agency for Mine Action (ANAMA) in their tireless demining efforts and continue to do so," he said.
According to the ambassador, currently, through UNDP, UK Government is financing the implementation of three different projects with ANAMA.
"The primary objective of one of these interventions is to assist ANAMA’s Explosive Ordnance Risk Education (EORE) department to prepare for and support the national plan for "The Great Return". Given the huge scale of the demining challenge, which is going to take over a decade, we are also helping to support ANAMA and other parts of state structures to work effectively and efficiently together. And we want to see Azerbaijan’s unique experience shape a productive role as an international champion on landmine action," Auld noted.
The ambassador added that, in regards to supporting the ANAMA on its demining efforts, UK Government also has a new project with UNICEF.
"The cooperation aims to provide evidence-based, high impact and life-saving emergency support for conflict-affected families, children and construction workers. The Action will focus on EORE aiming to reduce fatalities and injuries caused by Explosive Remnants of War," he explained.