AMBASSADOR TO ITALY MEETS WITH DIPLOMATIC ADVISER OF ITALIAN PREMIER
Ambassador Karimov conveyed congratulations and greetings from President of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev to newly elected Prime Minister of Italy Romano Prodi. He recalled Mr. Prodi’s meeting with national leader and late President of Azerbaijan Heydar Aliyev in 1997 in Rome and with incumbent President Ilham Aliyev in 2004 when the Italian Premier was in Baku as the President of the European Commission.
Speaking of the current state of Azerbaijan-Italy relationship, Ambassador Karimov noted there were good opportunities for enhancement of cooperation between the two countries in various areas. He added that the last year’s official visit to Italy by President Ilham Aliyev opened a new area in the bilateral relations, and informed Mr. Sanino on the meetings held and documents signed during the visit, as well as the positives of the Italy-Azerbaijan business forum.
Mr. Karimov named Italy the Azerbaijan’s largest trade partner pointing to good opportunities for cooperation and making investments in the country’s agriculture and chemical, tourism and light industries. Reminding of the recent commissioning of the Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan oil pipeline, he let Mr. Sanino know that a number of Italian companies show great interest in transportation of gas through Baku-Tbilisi-Erzurum pipeline to start operating soon.
The Azeri Ambassador said the leadership of Azerbaijan intends to continue cooperation with the new Italian government noting the importance of organizing high-level reciprocal visits, in particular, that of Prime Minister Romano Prodi to Azerbaijan.
Ambassador Stefano Sanino expressed satisfaction with the current state of Azerbaijan-Italy relationship especially noting the cooperation in energy field. He said his country attaches particular importance to enhancement of cooperation with Azerbaijan. Mr. Sanino confirmed that Prime Minister Romano Prodi welcomes Azerbaijan’s European integration efforts, and supports the region countries’ joining the New Neighborhood Policy of the European Union.
Ambassador Karimov also spoke of the democratic reforms in Azerbaijan, the steps taken to ensure economic growth and social improvements in the country, and touched on the Armenia-Azerbaijan conflict over Nagorno-Karabakh. He described the conflict, which has lead to occupation of 20% of the Azerbaijani territories and over one million people’s becoming refugees and internally displaced, as a major threat to cooperation and security in the region. The diplomat expressed gratitude to the Italian government for supporting Azerbaijan’s position in the conflict.
Ambassador Sanino regretted that the conflict has not yet been resolved and expressed readiness of his country to contribute to its peaceful resolution.
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