Azerbaijan's Aliyev Says Serbian Firms Could Participate in Restoration of Karabakh

BAKU (Sputnik) - Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev mentioned on Sunday that Serbian companies could potentially participate in the reconstruction work in the territories that were seized by Baku during the latest round of hostilities in the disputed region of Nagorno-Karabakh, according to the presidential office.

Earlier in the day, Aliyev met with a Serbian delegation led by Foreign Minister Nikola Selakovic. Both sides expressed support for each other's territorial integrity.

"The issues of economic cooperation were discussed at the meeting. President Ilham Aliyev pointed to the fact that the companies from friendly countries are involved in restoration and reconstruction work in the liberated territories. In this regard, the possibility of Serbian companies’ participation in these works in the coming years was underlined," the office said in a statement.

The 44-day armed conflict between Armenia and Azerbaijan in Nagorno-Karabakh took place last September. The hostilities ended with a Russia-brokered trilateral declaration of ceasefire on November 10, 2020, in which the sides cemented their respective territorial gains and losses and agreed to Russian peacekeepers to be deployed to the region to monitor the truce.