ECONOMY
Minister of Economic Development: Italian government to release final authorization for TAP by May
Baku, April 15, AZERTAC
Italian Minister of Economic Development Federica Guidi has said her country`s government will give final authorization for TAP by this May.
In an exclusive interview with AZERTAC, Ms Guidi officially confirmed that “we are at the last stage of final approval”.
“This is a very important and strategic project for us. And energy, of course, is one of the most significant issues on our agenda in Italy and Europe. TAP is a very important part of this new plan for the energy diversification in terms of routes and supplies. We will certainly continue to try to promote our industries and create more options for collaboration with Azerbaijan in this field.”
The Minister hailed the signing of an agreement by Italian Marie Technimont and Azerbaijan`s SOCAR Polymer. “It is a great example of how to create collaboration with some major Italian contractors in order to establish a new plant for new strategic products.” “We are trying to push, of course, most of our companies to be not only contractors, but also to establish long-term collaboration with their partners in Azerbaijan,” Ms Guidi said.
The Italian Minister also highlighted the bilateral trade. “Of course, the import between Azerbaijan and Italy is now mainly focused on oil. I think it will also be focused on gas in the future. We would like to try to boost this cooperation, promoting some more actions and some more opportunities for the exports from Italy to Azerbaijan.” She lauded the role of the Italian Trade Promotion Agency in assisting Italian companies. “We have done a very good job all around the world. The Italian Trade Promotion Agency is one of the important instruments available for companies, which is launched by our government.”
Ms Guidi also said that during her visit the two countries discussed ways of reinforcing “our collaboration in strategic sectors like oil and gas”. “We also evaluated and put in place some future collaboration in many other sectors apart from oil and gas.” The Minister said Italy had big experience in technology, adding “we would like to listen to the new opportunities that Azerbaijan will offer our industries”.