ITV, Azerbaijan
26 Oct 06
AZERI CAPITAL HOSTS INTERNATIONAL MEETING ON ARMS SMUGGLING
[Presenter] The working group on prevention of illegal circulation of
munitions and radioactive materials of the international conference
on border issues has held a regular meeting in Baku. One of the main
issues of concern discussed at the meeting was illegal circulation of
munitions and radioactive materials in Azerbaijan’s territories
occupied by the Armenian armed forces.
[Correspondent over video of meeting] The Azerbaijani State Border
Service intends to further step up its cooperation with the working
group of the international conference on border issues in order to
ensure the security of major energy projects like the
Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan [oil pipeline] and Baku-Tbilisi-Erzurum [gas
pipeline].
It was also noted at the Baku-hosted meeting of the working group
that as a country that has suffered from terrorism Azerbaijan
attaches great importance to international cooperation in ensuring
the security of its energy projects, as well as its borders.
[Farhad Tagizada, captioned as member of the working group, with
Azeri voice-over] Ensuring of Azerbaijan’s energy security is
important to Europe, too. In this sense, there is always a need for
joint security measures and exchange of experience.
[Correspondent] A member of the working group, Farhad Tagizada,
voiced his concern at the fact that Azerbaijani territories remain
under occupation by the Armenian armed forces.
[Tagizada] Azerbaijan is a country that has suffered from terrorism.
More than 2,000 people have died in more than 30 terrorist attacks in
Azerbaijan in the past few years. In addition, 20 per cent of
Azerbaijan’s territory are still occupied by the Armenian armed
forces. A total of 132 km of Azerbaijan’s border are uncontrolled.
Arms and radioactive materials are illegally circulated in the
occupied territory. We hope that this meeting of the working group
will give an impetus to taking relevant steps in this area, too.
[Correspondent] Besides Azerbaijan, representatives of the border
services of Germany, Switzerland, Lithuania, Hungary, the USA, Russia
and Georgia attended the meeting.
Work done to prevent illegal circulation of munitions and radioactive
materials, the expertise of the world’s leading countries in this
area and other issues were discussed and specific recommendations
were adopted at the meeting.
The guests will familiarize themselves with the work of the Caspian
Sea coast guard of the Azerbaijani State Border Service on 27
October.