"I raised many times these issues and also yesterday during the meeting with Mr. President Michel, I even suggested the European Commission to look at the opportunity to finance from the funds demining in Azerbaijan," Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev said in an interview with Italy's Il Sole 24 Ore newspaper on Dec. 15, Report informs via Azertag.
"I said okay, don’t give the money to us. Provide financial support to European companies which are involved in demining and let them come to Azerbaijan, and to start this work. Because physically it’s not possible for Azerbaijan to do it in a short period of time. Plus, it is very costly. You are absolutely right, without demining we cannot bring people back. They have been waiting for that for almost thirty years. Now the huge reconstruction started but the areas which are being under reconstruction are demined but the rest part is not. So, people who will go back will face serious problems and threats to their lives. So, I hope that after this communications there will be more clarity about that, but of course our needs are not limited only by demining. Everything is destroyed. There are no cities, no villages-nothing-they are destroyed totally. Our position is that the level of support whether it’s financial donations or loans to Armenia and to Azerbaijan must be at the same level," President Aliyev said.