Azernews.Az

By Ayya Lmahamad

The first Azerbaijan International Exhibition "Restoration, Reconstruction and Development of Karabakh - Rebuild Karabakh" is held at the Baku Expo Center on October 20-22.

The Rebuild Karabakh exhibition was organized to create a communication platform that will unite all areas of activity for the development of Karabakh, accelerate the process of cooperation between both the public and private sectors and attract investment in various regional projects.

The exhibition will feature "green energy", "smart village" projects, water and water facilities in the liberated areas, projects planned for their restoration, protection and efficient use, new airports and many other projects.

It is worth noting that the exhibition attracted the interest of local and foreign companies and structures. Five national pavilions from Germany, Georgia, Israel, Hungary and Turkey are participating in the first Rebuild Karabakh exhibition.

The national pavilions are organized with the support of the trade and industrial chambers of the countries. Among the participants, there are many Azerbaijani state structures and private companies.

According to the memorandum of understanding, signed between Caspian Event Organisers and the Karabakh Revival Foundation, a part of the registration fees of the companies participating in the exhibition will be directed to the Foundation for the restoration of the liberated territories.

Precious metal deposits

During the opening of the exhibition, Ecology and Natural Resources Deputy Minister Vugar Karimov stated that there are 167 precious metal deposits in Azerbaijan’s liberated territories. Noting that most of the deposits were exploited for 30 years, he underlined that the caused damage is measured in billions of dollars.

Karimov noted that monitoring to assess the damage to biodiversity is underway.

“Very large damage was caused to water resources in these areas. Construction of new and reconstruction of existing reservoirs is planned there to provide the population with drinking water, as well as water for irrigation of crops,” he added.

Green energy concept

Deputy Energy Minister Elnur Sultnanov noted that the ministry had presented a concept for the development of “green energy” to the government.

Noting the president's order to turn Karabakh into a green energy zone, Sultanov stated that the liberated lands have a potential of 7,200 MW of solar and 2,000 MW of wind energy.

"International investors are already working on the construction of a 240-MW solar power plant in Jabrayil. Investors have also been sent a request for interest to build a 100-MW wind power plant in Lachin and Kalbajar... We have big projects ahead and we are ready to work with local and foreign investors to implement them," he noted.

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Ayya Lmahamad is AzerNews’ staff journalist, follow her on Twitter: @AyyaLmahamad

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