BAKU, Azerbaijan, June 26. The current state and prospects for the development of Azerbaijan-Italy strategic partnership relations were discussed.
This was reported by the press service of the Azerbaijani MFA.
According to the MFA, the issues were outlined during a phone conversation between Azerbaijan’s Minister of Foreign Affairs Jeyhun Bayramov and Italy’s Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation Antonio Tajani on June 26.
The ministers expressed satisfaction with the increasingly active nature of the high-level political dialogue between the two countries. In this context, they highlighted that Italian President Sergio Mattarella’s state visit to Azerbaijan last autumn, the meeting of the Intergovernmental Commission on Economic Cooperation held in January this year, as well as the visit of Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni to Azerbaijan in May, demonstrated the strategic nature of Azerbaijan-Italy relations and the dynamic development of cooperation based on mutual trust.
The sides stressed the importance of maintaining political dialogue and mutual visits in the coming period, as well as further expanding cooperation in economic and trade relations, energy, transport, industry, investment, education and other areas. In this regard, they noted that the Azerbaijan-Italy Business Forum, scheduled to take place this autumn, will serve as an important platform for deepening bilateral economic partnership.
The ministers also emphasised the significance of the conference to be organised in September this year in partnership with The European House – Ambrosetti for the development of Azerbaijan-Italy economic and political dialogue.
The sides expressed satisfaction with successful cooperation in the energy sector, highlighting that cooperation between SOCAR and Italy’s Italiana Petroli (IP), including the acquisition of the company, represents one of the key areas of bilateral economic relations. They also underlined the importance of expanding mutually beneficial economic projects and exploring new areas of cooperation.
During the phone conversation, the parties also exchanged views on the post-conflict peace agenda in the region, the situation in the Middle East and other regional security issues.
