Azerbaijan, Baku, Dec. 4 / Trend U. Ismayilova /
Azerbaijan has fully completed the first phase of land reform. It envisages a division of land into categories of land ownership, Garib Mammadov, the head of the State Committee of Land and Cartography, said at a news conference at the headquarters of the ruling New Azerbaijan Party.
"Land and property of 2,042 households were distributed among the population within the first phase of the reform ", he said.
He said that today 3.5 million people or 874,000 families received land in private ownership free of charge. The reforms were partially conducted in 41 households. They were transferred to the balance of the Ministry of Agriculture.
He said that the main objectives of the land and agrarian reforms are to improve the social status of the population, to support the middle class, as well as to create conditions for individuals from different population layers to obtain the right to land ownership.
He said that an important step within the land reform is that foreign citizens can not buy land in the country. Foreigners are entitled to rent and use land temporarily.
The land reform in Azerbaijan was launched in 1995.
As a result, there are three forms of ownership implemented within the measures of the land reform in Azerbaijan. They are defined as follows: 56 percent (5.9 million hectares) are allocated to the state, 23.5 percent ( 2.032 million hectares) to municipalities and 19.6 percent (1.7 million acres) - private property of 8.6 million hectares of the land fund.