Aliyev attends opening ceremony of factory in Lachin

Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev has attended several events in Nagorno-Karabakh, including the opening of a sewing factory in Lachin.

The factory was the latest enterprise to be built in the Lachin Agro-Industrial Park, which was opened in August 2023.

Lachin is an Azerbaijani district that had been under Armenian control from 1992–2022, and was returned to Azerbaijan as part of the ceasefire agreement that ended the Second Nagorno-Karabakh War in 2022.

Since then, and particularly since the final Azerbaijani offensive that culminated in the surrender of Armenian forces in Nagorno-Karabakh in 2023, Baku has expended considerable effort to rebuild the area. However, critics argue that much of the funds are being pocketed or squandered in corruption schemes.

‘The enterprise, worth ₼1.2 million ($700,000), will create 30 new jobs. The factory will produce 2,000 textile products per day. This includes home textiles, sports kits, exclusive clothing, and other goods’, Azerbaijan state-media outlet AZERTAC wrote.

A shoe factory was also opened in the same work on Tuesday.  According to state media, a total of 46 enterprises are planned to operate in the industrial park.

In addition to the two factories, Aliyev also attended the opening of a spa and resort centre.

The pro-government media outlet APA reported that ‘large-scale projects for the revival of Nagorno-Karabakh and Eastern Zangezur continue in parallel with the realisation of the region’s economic potential’.

‘All these steps turn Nagorno-Karabakh and Eastern Zangezur into one of the important components of the country's economic development and accelerate the integration of the region into the country's economy as a whole’, the article continued.

On Tuesday, Aliyev also presented the keys to the new housing complex in the village of Baylik, Lachin, claiming that between 40,000–43,000 people live, study, and work in Nagorno-Karabakh and the surrounding territories.

According to APA, more than 1,000 residential buildings have been built and renovated in Lachin and 847 families resettled since the region came under Azerbaijani control.

Between 2020–2024, a total of ₼17.6 billion ($10.4 billion) was allocated from the state budget for the reconstruction and restoration of Nagorno-Karabakh and the surrounding territories, with an additional ₼4 billion ($2.4 billion) planned for 2025.

Between 2026–2029, the costs are expected to equal ₼16 billion ($9.4 billion), of which over 30% would come from capital expenditures.

Government reports Azerbaijan spent $3.5 billion in 2024 to ‘reconstruct’ Nagorno-Karabakh

The Azerbaijani Statistical Committee has reported that $3.5 billion were spent on reconstructing Nagorno-Karabakh in 2024.

OC MediaAytan Farhadova