Azerbaijan, Baku, May 6 / Trend E. Mehdiyev /
The transit of drugs is a problem faced by the entire world. For Azerbaijan, the difficulties are that a large amount of drugs is transported through the Azerbaijani occupied territories, chairman of the State Commission on the Fight against Drug Addiction and Illicit Drugs Traffic, Deputy Prime Minister Ali Hasanov told media today.
He added that the volumes of cargo turnover are increasing as far as the country is developing.
"The number of those entering and leaving the country, as well as the implemented international projects is increasing as is the number of tourists," he said. "All this creates the conditions for the global drug business to use the country as a transit direction, but we have intensified our activity. All state organisations were mobilised to prevent the transit of drugs. However the biggest challenge for us is that a large volume of drugs is transported through the Azerbaijani occupied lands, which we cannot control."
The conflict between the two South Caucasus countries began in 1988 when Armenia made territorial claims against Azerbaijan. Armenian armed forces have occupied 20 per cent of Azerbaijan since 1992, including the Nagorno-Karabakh region and seven surrounding districts.
Azerbaijan and Armenia signed a ceasefire agreement in 1994. The co-chairs of the OSCE Minsk Group - Russia, France and the U.S. are currently holding the peace negotiations.
Armenia has not yet implemented the U.N. Security Council's four resolutions on the liberation of the Nagorno-Karabakh and the surrounding regions.