Azernews.Az

By Rashid Shirinov

The capital assets of the Azerbaijani Armed Forces Relief Fund exceeded 88 million manats ($52.1 million), Defense Ministry reported on February 1.

The ministry also noted that the Fund’s dollar account has accumulated over $213,000, the euro account exceeded 10,000 euros, while the ruble account made up 5,000 rubles.

The Armed Forces Relief Fund, established in 2002, targets to ensure development of the Azerbaijani Armed Forces in accordance with the contemporary requirements, strengthening the material and technical base and financing the necessary social measures.

The Fund is formed on the basis of voluntary donations of individuals and legal entities and at the expense of the other donations not prohibited by the national legislation.

The Azerbaijani Army, which today is considered the most modern army in the Caucasus, consists of Air Force and Air Defense Forces, the Navy, and the Land Forces.

Today, Azerbaijani Army is one of the most powerful, highly disciplined armies in the world and the leading in the region, which is equipped with modern military machinery. Azerbaijan leaves behind many CIS and regional countries to take its place among the first 58 strongest militaries of the world, according to the U.S.-based Global Firepower survey center.

Azerbaijan provides the national Army with sufficient military budget every year. Defense spending of Azerbaijan determined in the state budget for 2017 made up 2.64 billion manats ($1.55 billion), which exceeds the spending for 2016.

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Rashid Shirinov is AzerNews’ staff journalist, follow him on Twitter: @RashidShirinov

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