Envoy: Council of Europe ready to assist development of liberated Azerbaijani lands

The Council of Europe is ready to discuss with the Azerbaijani authorities the spheres of cooperation in the liberated territories, Representative of the Council of Europe in Azerbaijan, Ambassador Zoltan Hernyes told Report.

"In general, the Council of Europe is ready to assist development in the liberated territories of Azerbaijan in a number of areas, such as environmental protection, improvement of the environment, which suffered greatly during the occupation," he said, adding that all these issues will be agreed with the Azerbaijani authorities, according to the country's development plans.

At the same time, the ambassador stressed that while the process of demining territories includes technical and security issues in which the Council of Europe has no direct competence, the organization is ready to help eliminate the humanitarian consequences of the mine problem.

Also, the organization is ready to share experience in building confidence and peacebuilding activities in the region, he said.

Speaking about cooperation in the South Caucasus, he noted that it is considered within the Eastern Partnership.

"The Council of Europe has already implemented a number of projects with the participation of all Eastern Partnership countries. This is a special format within which it is possible to work with all participating countries in the same way, including Azerbaijan and Armenia," he concluded.