Azerbaijan to increase military spending – president
Trend news agency
12 May 04
Baku, 12 May: Azerbaijan intends to continue its policy of increasing
budget expenditure on the build-up of the national army, Azerbaijani
President Ilham Aliyev said during a visit to a military unit in the
city of Naxcivan on 12 May.
Azerbaijan should increase its military potential, Aliyev said. The
Azerbaijani leadership is in favour of a peaceful settlement to the
Nagornyy Karabakh conflict and believes that the occupied territories
will be liberated peacefully, he said. But if peace is not possible,
we will do this in a military way, Aliyev went on to say, adding that
this requires an efficient army and strong will.
He voiced his satisfaction with the conditions in military units in
Azerbaijan and with the defence capacity of the Naxcivan Autonomous
Republic. He also stressed that strong military units should be
created since Naxcivan is blockaded.
The president said that Azerbaijan’s economy was getting stronger
thanks to large-scale regional projects. An economically weak country
cannot have a strong army, he said.
Aliyev also expressed his satisfaction with the achievements of the
Naxcivan leadership in the sphere of the population’s social and
economic development.