Vincelli: Mine problem hinders restoration of Azerbaijan’s liberated lands

Azerbaijan is actively restoring the territories liberated as a result of the 44-day war, Professor of the Sapienza University of Rome Daniel Pommier Vincelli wrote in an article on Geopolitica.info, Report informs.

“The victorious country of Azerbaijan has more economic resources, international attractiveness is certainly higher than that of poor Armenia, isolated and dependent on Russia. A lot of infrastructure work has been carried out. In record time, the first international airport in these territories was built near the Azerbaijani city of Fuzuli, at least two more new ones are under construction,” Vincelli notes.

He wrote that the completion of the construction of the road between the cities of Fuzuli and Shusha – “an artery designed for large-scale commercial and tourist traffic in a region that has experienced 30 years of impoverishment and isolation” - was no less rapid. There is also an active reconstruction of the city of Shusha: “The city, left in ruins after the Armenian occupation, is being revived with huge investments in infrastructure, residential, tourism and cultural sectors.”

At the same time, the Italian professor notes that all reconstruction projects cannot be fully implemented until the biggest danger, the presence of anti-personnel mines, is eliminated.

“Brigade of Azerbaijani sappers, accompanied by cynological units, clear areas of the territory every day, but the number of anti-personnel mines is so high that the mine clearance process will take years,” Vincelli writes.

He notes that, despite the difficulties, the peaceful process of normalization of relations between Azerbaijan and Armenia is moving forward, and the European Union is currently playing an active role in it.