A meeting with the US ambassador to Azerbaijan took place.

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Mətbuat xidmətinin məlumatı 24 January, 2018

Mr. Ali Hasanov, the Deputy Prime Minister of Azerbaijan Republic, the Chairman of the State Committee for Affairs of Refugees and IDPs, the Chairman of the Republican Commission on International Humanitarian Assistance, has met with the delegation led by Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the United States to Azerbaijan, Robert Cekuta on January 24. Deputy Prime Minister Ali Hasanov noted that the money spent by the donor countries, international and local humanitarian organizations on humanitarian, civil society strengthening, democratic reforms, and technical and other development projects in Azerbaijan, in the last 24 years consisted approximately 1.4 billion US dollars. Of these, 820 million dollars belong to the United States Department of State, US non-governmental organizations for the implementation of defense and agriculture ministries' funds. In 1993-2000, the United States had 33 organizations on the implementation of humanitarian and development programs in Azerbaijan. At present there are six international humanitarian and development organizations. Ali Hasanov noted that the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) has always had close relations with the Azerbaijani government. We have done and will do all the work to help implementing their projects. All of the projects have been implemented in line with the priorities of the Azerbaijani government. We always remember with all gratitude and highly appreciate this help. If this were not the case, it would be very difficult for us. Thankfully, today the Azerbaijani economy has become one of the fastest growing economies in the world. Nevertheless, we never forget the good things that have been done in difficult times. US Ambassador to our country, Robert Cekuta expressing gratitude for the reception, said that the future of Azerbaijan in the early 1990s was indefinite, but now Azerbaijan has achieved great progress. He noted that, despite the ongoing Nagorno-Karabakh conflict and the difficult situation of IDPs, and looking at the humanitarian point of view, your country has done a great job to solve their problems. The US Government has implemented projects such as constructing and repairing school buildings for IDPs, organizing English language courses, improving water supply, and then the priority projects in this direction will be continued. Noting that the purpose of today's meeting namely is to hold discussions on future projects to be focused on the more prioritized areas, the ambassador added that a new project on IDPs is expected to be launched in Absheron. Robert Cekuta also informed that within the framework of the project "Socio-Economic Development Activity" jointly funded by the Government of Azerbaijan and United States Agency for International Development, the feed processing facility in Jojug Marjanli village of Jabrayil region will be put into operation in the near future, and this will contribute to the development of agriculture in and around the surrounding areas and will help residents to engage in agriculture and employment. Ali Hasanov said that in the first stage 50 houses have been constructed in the village Jojug Marjanli and the residents have returned to their native lands. According to the order of Mr. President, construction of more than 100 houses with relevant infrastructure facilities has been completed and other residents will return to their villages in the near future as well. Taking these into account, it would be advisable to implement programs such as rehabilitation, restoration of working ability, national traditions. The Deputy Prime Minister also emphasized that the new residential complex, which was opened in November last year in Tartar region, has been actually built on the liberated lands. Thus, the Great Return continued in the Nagorno-Karabakh region.