Azernews.Az

BAKU – A group of businessmen from Austria, the Czech Republic and Slovakia have visited the Armenia-occupied Azerbaijani region of Nagorno-Karabakh to look at investment opportunities, Radio Liberty's Armenian Service reports.

The delegation met Friday with the separatist leadership in Stepanakert (Khankandi), the center of unrecognized Nagorno-Karabakh Republic (NKR).

Ashot Grigorian, the Armenian-born owner of a Slovak energy-consulting firm who organized the trip, said the entrepreneurs are interested in the local energy, construction, and agricultural sectors. He said they would like to start out with pilot projects worth a total of at least $15 million.

"For the time being, we are talking about each of the firms investing only several million dollars," Grigorian told Radio Liberty. "But if the process goes well, they will invest more serious sums."

Bako Sahakian, the self-proclaimed president of the NKR, was quoted by his office as welcoming foreign investors visiting Khankandi and promising to support them.

Georgi Petrosian, the NKR "foreign minister," said he had warned the entrepreneurs that their projects would anger Azerbaijani officials.

But Petrosian said the investors were allegedly unfazed by the likelihood of Azerbaijani protests against their plans.

"The energy sector is particularly attractive to them because the ‘Karabakh government’ has adopted an exceedingly progressive program," claimed Grigorian. "They are going to build a cascade of hydroelectric stations."

Under that program, the separatist regime plans to stop importing electricity from Armenia in 2012 and be able to export power generated by its rivers in the following years.

Armenia and Azerbaijan waged a brutal war that claimed some 30,000 lives and displaced about a million Azerbaijanis. The hostilities, which flared up due to Armenia’s territorial claims, ended with the signing of a fragile cease-fire in 1994. About 20 percent of Azerbaijani territory, including Nagorno Karabakh, has been under the occupation of the Armenian armed forces since then. The separatist regime in Nagorno Karabakh declared so-called independence in 1991, which has not been recognized by the world community.