Deputy Foreign Minister of Azerbaijan spoke about the mine problem at WUF13

In the post-conflict period, Azerbaijan has allocated approximately 15 billion US dollars for restoration work, annually dedicating about 25% of the state budget for these purposes.

As reported by APA, this was stated by Azerbaijan's Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Yalchin Rafiyev during his speech at the event "Housing at the Center of Post-Crisis Recovery and Reconstruction," organized within the framework of WUF13.

"Every country and every situation has its own unique challenges. For us, one of those challenges is mines. You can start recovery and reconstruction, but for this process to begin, there must be a favorable environment. One of the challenges that Azerbaijan faced was the presence of 1.5 million mines that had to be cleared before restoration and reconstruction work could begin. This means that you may be financially ready, you may have favorable political conditions — for example, a peace agreement or a ceasefire — but due to the presence of mines, it is impossible to enter these territories and begin restoration. Nevertheless, I believe that the model we have developed over the past few years is a good example for the world. After the conflict, Azerbaijan spent approximately 15 billion US dollars and annually allocated about 25% of the state budget for these purposes. This is a good example for conflict-affected countries: if you are building everything from scratch, then you must build better than what was there before," noted Yalchin Rafiyev.