Azernews.Az

YEREVAN – The Armenian prime minister on Monday reportedly visited Azerbaijan’s occupied Nagorno Karabakh region where he joined military exercises being conducted by ethnic Armenians running a self-proclaimed republic there.

Tigran Sargsyan, accompanied by Defense Minister Seyran Ohanyan, tried firing from a submachine gun and rode in a tank, and also walked along the contact line of Armenian and Azerbaijani armed forces, Armenia’s Mediamax news agency reported.

Addressing servicemen, Sargsyan called them "soldiers of a victorious army" and called for furthering what he termed as successes achieved by the armed forces so far.

Nagorno Karabakh and seven surrounding Azerbaijani regions have been occupied by Armenian armed forces since a ceasefire was signed in 1994 following a lengthy war. Ethnic Armenian separatists in Nagorno Karabakh, backed by Armenia, declared so-called independence in 1991, which has not been recognized by the international community. Peace talks, brokered by US, Russian and French mediators, have been largely fruitless so far.

Sargsyan claimed that the economy of the Nagorno Karabakh region will grow faster in the coming years, saying current figures are grounds for this conclusion.

The separatist leadership claimed that Nagorno Karabakh’s gross domestic product increased 5.5 percent in 2010 to reach $330 million. In the first quarter of 2011, a 9.7 percent increase was reported.

Agriculture and food industry are the key areas of production in Nagorno Karabakh.