Azerbaijan, Baku /corr. Trend S.Agayeva / The Azerbaijani National Agency for Mine Action (ANAMA) and NATO Agency for Maintenance and Supply Agency (NAMSA) will continue the second phase of the Saloglu de-mining project, said the ANAMA Director, Nazim Ismaylov, on 3 July at a press-conference.
According to him, the second phase of the project includes measuring the underground clean-up of Azerbaijani territories from land mines and ammunition (HPB). The third phase will be in the future which envisages collecting and disarm HPB from the public.
According to Ismaylov, during the first stage of the project, an area of 562 hectares in Azerbaijan have been de-mined where 255,000 land mines and HPB were discovered of which 78,000 have already been disarmed. According to the ANAMA head, the agency de-mines nearly 10,000 m2 annually and nearly 600-800 NPB are discovered per hectare of land.
"The Agency has already begun realizing the second phase of the project. Additional finances will be allocated for this purpose. We realize all these measures together with NAMSA," Ismaylov said.
According to him, the third phase envisages implementing work on an area of 44 mln m2.
The General Manager of NAMSA, General Karl-Hints Munster, expressed the readiness of the agency to continue cooperation with Azerbaijan in various projects, including de-mining occupied lands of Azerbaijan after their release.
"Approximate forecasts say that nearly 470-500,000 HPB remain live," Munster said. According to him, NAMSA realizes two projects (Saloglu and Melange) in cooperation with the Government of Azerbaijan, ANAMA and the National Academy of Sciences of Azerbaijan.
"We stand ready to assist Azerbaijan in this regard in the future," he said. According to him, NANSA also supports the reforms held by the Defence Ministry of Azerbaijan and is prepared to assist the Azerbaijani military in actively participating more in NATO events.