Azerbaijan, Italy preparing new agreement on mutual investment promotion
By Sara Israfilbayova
Azerbaijan and Italy will sign a new agreement “On the promotion and mutual protection of investments”.
The statement was made during the meeting of Economy Minister Shahin Mustafayev and Italian Ambassador to Azerbaijan Augusto Massari.
“Currently, a draft of a new agreement on the promotion and mutual protection of investments is being prepared. We are also working on a joint Action Plan on cooperation in energy, infrastructure, logistics, agriculture, petrochemistry and the railway sector,” said Mustafayev.
The minister went on to say that Azerbaijan and Italy successfully cooperate in the energy sector, underlining the interest in cooperation in the non-oil sphere, in particular in agriculture, tourism, transport, infrastructure and the humanitarian sphere.
In turn, the Italian ambassador noted the success of mutual high-level visits. Massari also said the development of cooperation in the non-oil sector was discussed as well during these visits. Massari added that Italian companies are interested in implementing projects in Azerbaijan in various fields.
Diplomatic relations between the two states were established in 1992.
Italy, as the main importer of crude oil and oil products from Azerbaijan, has become the largest trading partner of the country. The basis of trade between the two countries is export products from Azerbaijan.
Italian business circles in Azerbaijan are making large investments and are taking part in a number of projects of international importance. As many as 95 Italian companies have been registered in Azerbaijan and are contractors in 41 projects.
Moreover, Italy can be considered the main partner for the development of the Shah Deniz 2 gas export to Europe through the Trans Adriatic Pipeline (TAP).
Italy is at the end of the Southern Gas Corridor, a pipeline taking gas from central Asia to western Europe, but the new government had previously expressed doubts about the project.
The Southern Gas Corridor snakes its way from Azerbaijan through eastern Europe towards Italy via Georgia, Turkey and Greece.
It would bring up to 10 billion cubic meters of gas to Italy from Shah Deniz 2, a gas field developed by a BP-led consortium.
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Sara Israfilbayova is AzerNews’ staff journalist, follow her on Twitter: @Sara_999Is
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