New School Opens in Guloglular Village, Barda Region, Built by the United States

Baku/07.11.18/Turan: A new school opened on November 8thin the village of Guloglular, Barda Region, serving some 220 students from both the IDP and non-IDP familiesof the village. The school was built by the United States Department of Defense"s Humanitarian Assistance Program, through the Office of Defense Cooperation at the U.S. Embassy in Baku.

A ribbon cutting ceremony was held at 12:00 PM today to dedicate the school, with a number of officials from the United States and Azerbaijan attending, including United States Chargé d"Affaires William Gill, representatives from the State Committee for Affairs of Refugees and IDPs, the Ministry of Education, the Barda Executive Committee, and the US Army Corps of Engineers (USACE). Also present wereLieutenant Commander Jonathan Norris and Major Stephen Garvin from the Office of Defense Cooperation at the U.S. Embassy.

This new school will improve the learning environment of the children by providing safe, healthy, andmodern school conditions with large classrooms. This project is the seventeenth school project which the United States, working through the U.S. Department of Defense"s Humanitarian Assistance Program, has undertaken.An eighteenth school is being planned for construction next year.The Barda Region School and other school projects were implemented through the U.S. Embassy"s Office of Defense Cooperation, working with the U.S. European Command and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.

Since 2003, the U.S. Department of Defense has provided nearly $6 million to fund 23 humanitarian assistance projects, including school construction and water projects, focused in particular on helping IDP communities in Azerbaijan. -0-