A meeting has been held at Baku Engineering University (BEU) with representatives of the APOPO organization, which is known for its mine action in the world.

At the meeting, rector Yagub Piriyev noted that Azerbaijan is among the most polluted countries in the world with mines and unexploded military ammunition as a result of the aggressive policy of Armenia. The Rector emphasized that 1 million landmines were planted by Armenia in the territories of Karabakh and Shakri Zangezur during the occupation and 3435 Azerbaijani citizens have been harmed by mines since the beginning of the military aggression against our country. Furthermore, he emphasized the statistics on the number of mine victims.

Paying attention to Azerbaijan's great work in the field of demining in the years of independence, the rector pointed that the Azerbaijan National Agency for Mine Action (ANAMA) was established 26 years ago with the initiative of the National Leader Heydar Aliyev and the relevant Decree. Stating that the purposeful activities and state policy initiated in this direction have been successfully continued under the leadership of President Ilham Aliyev, the rector said that the Azerbaijan National Agency for Mine Action (ANAMA) with a public legal entity status was established on the basis of the agency, and that as a result of the steps taken, more than 90 percent of the mine action in the territories freed from occupation in our country were carried out at the expense of internal resources. 

Mentioning that after the victory of our Glorious Army under the leadership of the Victorious Commander-in-Cheif in the 44-day Patriotic War, multi-faceted works were carried out in the direction of cleaning the territories liberated from occupation of mines and unexploded ordnance, Yagub Piriyev noted that a well-known organization such as APOPO also contributed to this activity.

After the speech, APOPO program manager Itamar Levy made a presentation on "Post-war explosive contamination and humanitarian demining methods". Giving information about the organization's history, development stages, directions of activity, the speaker spoke about APOPO's activities in Azerbaijan. The program manager noted that APOPO, cooperating with ANAMA, operates 4 demining groups in the liberated areas, mainly in Jabrayil, Aghdam and Tartar directions.

At the event, mine action using animals (dogs and rats) were demonstrated and students' questions were answered.

Public Relations Department