Envoy: Azerbaijan's investments in Italy reach $2bn
By Ayya Lmahamad
Azerbaijan’s overall investment in Italy’s economy is estimated at 1.7 billion euros ($2bn), while Italy invested about 770 million euros ($910.8M) in Azerbaijan, Ambassador Mammad Ahmadzade has said in an interview with Italian Opinio Juris media.
Stressing that the energy sector has led the way in economic relations between Azerbaijan and Italy, Ahmadzade said that Azerbaijan has been one of the top oil suppliers for Italy for years. He added that the fact that TAP projects have been successfully completed has strengthened the partnership in the energy sector and the bond between the two countries.
“The new opportunities now are in sectors other than energy. Azerbaijan accounts for more than 90 percent of Italy’s total trade with the South Caucasus countries. Azerbaijan is the main destination of Italian exports to the South Caucasus region, with a seven percent increase in 2020 as well,” the ambassador said.
Likewise, Ahmadzade stressed that cooperation between Italy and Azerbaijan covers almost all sectors of the economy.
“This has been observed in numerous meetings of the Intergovernmental Commission, held in the last two years. The Commission’s agenda, in addition to energy, has included closer cooperation and implementation of mutually beneficial projects in such areas as infrastructure, agriculture, tourism, environment, transportation, health, culture, science, etc,” the ambassador stated.
Moreover, the ambassador noted that there are over 100 Italian companies operating in Azerbaijan in various sectors.
“Italian companies have contracts worth over 10 billion euros ($11.8bn) for Azerbaijani projects both outside and inside the country,” he said.
Touching upon the restoration of Azerbaijan’s liberated territories, Ahmadzade stressed that Italy will have a prominent role in these works and some companies have already signed contracts for this purpose.
It should be noted that 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.
The volume of the trade turnover between the two countries amounted to $2.8 billion, making Italy Azerbaijan’s largest trade partner during the period of January-May 2021. Out of the total turnover, exports amounted to $2.7 billion and imports to $155.3 million.
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Ayya Lmahamad is AzerNews’ staff journalist, follow her on Twitter: @AyyaLmahamad
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