Azerbaijan, Italy to strengthen economic cooperation
By Amina Nazarli
Azerbaijan and Italy will discuss strengthening economic
cooperation on April 14-15, Trend reported.
The meeting is planned to be held as part of the visit of Federica
Guidi, the Italian minister of Economic Development to Baku.
During the visit, Guidi will hold meetings with the leadership and members of the government, including Shahin Mustafayev, the economy and industry minister, Natig Aliyev, the energy minister, Heydar Asadov, the agriculture minister, Huseyn Bagirov, the environment and natural resources minister and Ziya Mammadov, the transport minister.
Italy has become the biggest trade partner of Azerbaijan in importing crude oil and oil products.
The trade turnover between Azerbaijan and Italy amounted to $554.8 million in January-February 2015, according to the Azerbaijani State Customs Committee. Some $485.7 million accounted for the export from Azerbaijan, and $69 million for import.
Italy mainly exports pipes for the oil sector, tobacco, leather and furniture to Azerbaijan.
Being one of Azerbaijan's major partners in Europe, Italy has been Azerbaijan's number one trade partner for the last eight years. It is the largest importer of Azerbaijani goods. Almost a quarter of Azerbaijan's export went to Italy in January-July 2013, compared to 22 percent in the same period in 2012. Currently, 45 Italian companies are operating in Azerbaijan in insurance, banking, trade, and other areas.
Italy and Azerbaijan successfully cooperate in the energy field as well. The selection of the Trans-Adriatic Pipeline (TAP) by the Shah Deniz consortium is the basis of bilateral cooperation in the energy sector.
Italy recognized Azerbaijan's independence in 1991. The diplomatic relations between the two countries were established in 1992.
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Amina Nazarli is AzerNews’ staff journalist, follow her on
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