Azernews.Az

By Vugar Khalilov

France has delivered demining equipment to the Azerbaijani Mine Action Agency (ANAMA), Azernews reports, citing French Ambassador to Azerbaijan Zacharie Gross.

"Last week, France delivered more than 300 high-quality demining toolkits that will help ANAMA accelerate Azerbaijan's humanitarian demining action," the ambassador tweeted.

Earlier, the ambassador noted that France is keen to donate €400,000 (AZN 803,272 or $472,752) to support mine clearance operations in liberated lands.

In the near future, a document is envisaged to be signed covering areas, such as support for demining operations, assistance to persons who suffered from mines, and the implementation of projects to raise awareness of the dangers of explosives.

It is worth noting that during the Second Karabakh War, French President Emmanuel Macron and some French circles failed to demonstrate a neutral position, despite the fact that France is a co-chair in the OSCE Minsk Group mediating talks between Baku and Yerevan.

In contradiction to the mandate of the OSCE Minsk Group co-chair, only the interests of Armenia were protected and an inadequate position, which did not meet the requirements of a balanced and fair co-chairmanship, was displayed. Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev and other top officials have repeatedly denounced this approach.

All cities, including hundreds of towns, settlements, public and private properties, and countless infrastructural facilities, were entirely destroyed as a result of the Armenian invasion and occupation of Azerbaijani territory for about three decades.

Everything on these lands was destroyed not only during the war but also during the occupation period. Simultaneously, Armenia deliberately and persistently laid mines on Azerbaijani territory, in violation of the 1949 Geneva Convention, posing a significant danger to regional peace, security, and cooperation.

Currently, the demining activities, as well as large-scale reconstruction work are underway in Azerbaijan’s liberated territories.

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