Innovative Post-Conflict Reconstruction Study for Nagorno-Karabakh Territories of Azerbaijan Launched in Brussels

BRUSSELS and LONDON, June 25, 2011 /PRNewswire/ --

- International Bank of Azerbaijan Commits to Help Finance Reconstruction Estimated $60 Billion to Rehabilitate All Affected Territories

- Study Based on World Bank and EBRD Post-Conflict Reconstruction Models

Latvian MEP Inese Vaidere held a dinner debate to present a new study on the rehabilitation of Azerbaijan's post-conflict territories at the European Parliament on 20 June.  The discussion completed a three capital cycle in London and Washington.  The forward-looking study offers a "businessman's blueprint" for post-conflict reconstruction of the Nagorno-Karabakh related territories.  The status of these territories and their economic development remains unresolved since the 1988-1994 war between Armenia and Azerbaijan that left one-fifth of Azerbaijan occupied by Armenian forces.  

The book, Basic Principles for the Rehabilitation of Azerbaijan's Post-Conflict Territories, is the undertaking of an independent team of experts, economists and scholars led by Dr. Eldar Ismailov, Chairman of the Baku and Stockholm-based Institute for Strategic Studies of the Caucasus (ISSC) and former Opposition Member of Parliament, Dr. Nazim Muzzafarli.  The International Bank of Azerbaijan (IBA) supported the research.  The new study provides a sector-by-sector analysis and order of battle for rehabilitation and reconstruction of $30 billion in basic infrastructure and services for territories around Nagorno-Karabakh.  Total reconstruction costs top $60 billion by Government estimates for all affected territories.

"IBA commits itself with its international partners to helping to finance reconstruction of the affected territories, if and when that time comes," stated Chairman of the International Bank of Azerbaijan Dr. Jahangir Hajiyev in London.  "We hope to see the soonest possible start to reconstruction of the damaged areas when the two sides have agreed.  The opportunity cost to all the peoples of the region for social, economic and political development has been too high," he added.  The Caspian region is recognized as the fastest growing trade corridor in the world.  

Dr. S. Frederick Starr, Chairman of Johns Hopkins University's Central Asia and Caucasus Institute (CACI) and author of the book's introduction, explained that currently in these territories there is little or no electricity, telecommunications, water, police and other critical infrastructure and services vital to the return of populations and economic development.  Alexandros Peterson, Research Director at the Henry Jackson Society, warned that unaddressed, the conflict region could become a larger haven for the export of instability, drug trafficking and other threats to regional political and economic stability.

London launch host, Lord Waverley, Chairman of the Central Asia All-Party Parliamentary Group at Westminster, urged "a balanced hearing of issues on both sides of the conflict which may be resolvable" and "modicum of common sense."  Co-host Lady Barbara Judge, Chair of the School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS)'s Middle East Institute Advisory Council, asked if there were additional good auspices in the EU, think tanks and research organizations that could broaden communications.  

CONTACT: Lyndsay Howard, PANGAEIA Communications, lh@pangaeia.com US +1-203-542-7777 and UK +44-207-7321-3900