AZERBAIJAN HAS SET UP WAR INDUSTRY – PRESIDENT

Interfax News Agency
March 19 2008
Russia

Azerbaijan is boosting its military budget and has set up a defense
industry of its own, President Ilham Aliyev said on Wednesday.

"The situation in which we have found ourselves and the occupation
of our lands are, of course, pushing us to increasing our military
expenditure, which is what we are doing," Aliyev said in an exclusive
interview with Interfax in Baku.

"Azerbaijan’s military expenditure has grown considerably for the
past four years. It was $1 billion in 2007 and will be $1.3 billion
in 2008. But this is a provisional level, because we are planning to
increase it," he said.

However, the country’s increasing defense spending reflects the
general state of its economy, Aliyev argued.

"I must say that Azerbaijan has increased its state expenditure
tenfold for the past four years, to $12 billion in 2008 – in terms
of the consolidated budget – from $1.3 billion in 2003. And we are
planning to put a proposal before parliament this spring for revising
the budget upward. So it is not surprising that Azerbaijan’s military
expenditure is growing as well," the president said.

"Plus we are in a state of war with Armenia, and our lands are under
occupation. The negotiations we have been holding for 10 years have
been fruitless," he said.

Azerbaijan buys weapons both from Collective Security Treaty
Organization member countries and from other states, Aliyev said.

Azerbaijan also set up a defense industry "a little more than a year
ago," and since then "the country has organized the manufacture of
our own military products, which we will be building up," he said.

"Possessing unlimited financial resources today, we are in a position
to set up new industries. We are setting up a new sector in the metal
industry, in the aluminum industry. Billions of dollars will be spent
for these purposes. Similar processes have started in other sectors
as well. And we are setting up and will set up a powerful military
industrial complex that will guarantee our security," Aliyev said.