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AZERBAIJAN TO BOOST DEFENSE SPENDING
November 24, 2014
Bloomberg - Azerbaijan, the third-largest oil producer in the former
Soviet Union, will look past falling crude prices and increase military
spending by more than a quarter next year as tensions escalate with
neighboring Armenia.
Defense outlays will grow 27 percent to 3.8 billion manat ($4.8
billion), exceeding Armenia's total budget spending of $3.2 billion,
Finance Minister Samir Sharifov said today.
Tensions escalated last week when Azerbaijan shot down an Armenian
military helicopter east of Nagorno-Karabakh, killing three crew
members. It was the first time an aircraft was downed in the conflict
zone in the past 20 years. Armenia vowed to retaliate.
More than 20 people were killed on both sides in August when skirmishes
along the heavily militarized cease-fire line turned the deadliest
since 1994.
Azerbaijan, buoyed by more than $50 billion of investments by BP Plc
(BP/) and partners in its energy projects, has promised to use military
force to regain control of the territory if peace talks mediated by
France, Russia and the U.S. fail.
Azerbaijan plans to spend $3.8 billion on its army this year, up from
$3.6 billion in 2013 and $3 billion in 2012.
While Azeri President Ilham Aliyev has met his Armenian counterpart
Serzh Sargsyan twice in the past three months, the two leaders failed
to narrow their differences.
http://www.horizonweekly.ca/news/details/53684
November 24, 2014
Bloomberg - Azerbaijan, the third-largest oil producer in the former
Soviet Union, will look past falling crude prices and increase military
spending by more than a quarter next year as tensions escalate with
neighboring Armenia.
Defense outlays will grow 27 percent to 3.8 billion manat ($4.8
billion), exceeding Armenia's total budget spending of $3.2 billion,
Finance Minister Samir Sharifov said today.
Tensions escalated last week when Azerbaijan shot down an Armenian
military helicopter east of Nagorno-Karabakh, killing three crew
members. It was the first time an aircraft was downed in the conflict
zone in the past 20 years. Armenia vowed to retaliate.
More than 20 people were killed on both sides in August when skirmishes
along the heavily militarized cease-fire line turned the deadliest
since 1994.
Azerbaijan, buoyed by more than $50 billion of investments by BP Plc
(BP/) and partners in its energy projects, has promised to use military
force to regain control of the territory if peace talks mediated by
France, Russia and the U.S. fail.
Azerbaijan plans to spend $3.8 billion on its army this year, up from
$3.6 billion in 2013 and $3 billion in 2012.
While Azeri President Ilham Aliyev has met his Armenian counterpart
Serzh Sargsyan twice in the past three months, the two leaders failed
to narrow their differences.
http://www.horizonweekly.ca/news/details/53684