Baku, Rome hail energy sector’s role in long-term partnership

The partnership in the energy sector plays an important role in the long-term cooperation between Azerbaijan and Italy, Energy Minister Parviz Shahbazov said while receiving Italian Ambassador Claudio Taffuri.

During the meeting, it was noted that President Ilham Aliyev's visit to Italy last year gave a special impetus to deepening relations to further develop the relations between the two countries.

The parties emphasized the existing cooperation between the two countries in various fields and expressed confidence that these relations will further develop.

Moreover, the implementation of the protocol of the 5th meeting of the Intergovernmental Commission on economic cooperation between Azerbaijan and Italy was brought to the attention.

Noting that there are many issues on the agenda, the parties underlined that despite the impact of the global pandemic, significant work has been done to resolve these issues.

Additionally, the parties discussed the current level and development prospects of bilateral relations in the relevant fields and exchanged views on a number of issues of mutual interest.

Italy was Azerbaijan's top trade partner in 2020 with the mutual trade amounting to $4.5 billion while Azerbaijan was the largest supplier of crude oil to Italy.

Thus, Italy is one of Azerbaijan's main trade partners and over 100 Italian companies, operating in various fields, are registered in Azerbaijan. Azerbaijan is one of Italy's three main energy resources suppliers. Implementation of the Trans-Adriatic Gas Pipeline project will raise cooperation between the two countries.

The volume of the trade turnover between the two countries amounted to $2.8 billion during the period of January-May 2021. Out of the total turnover, exports amounted to $2.7 billion and imports to $155.3 million.