President Ilham Aliyev touched upon the factors that have impeded the development of the mining industry in Azerbaijan during a meeting dedicated to the State Program on the development of the mining and metallurgical industry.

Axar.az reports that speaking on the matter, the head of state noted:

“Regrettably, the development of the mining industry in Azerbaijan has not progressed to the required level due to both objective and subjective reasons. The objective reasons stem from the fact that many of our deposits discovered during the Soviet era were located in the occupied regions, and the Armenian state continued its policy of aggression, including the plundering of the natural resources belonging to the Azerbaijani people and state.”

The President also noted that a certain amount of exploration work was conducted during the Soviet period. “However, for the Soviet government at that time, this region—and Azerbaijan in particular—was not considered a priority in this field.”