Azernews.Az

Italian business shows great interest in Azerbaijan, head of the Azerbaijan Export and Investment Promotion Foundation (AZPROMO) under the Economic Development Ministry Rufat Mammadov said at the joint business forum on Thursday, Trend news agency reported.

"Italy is Azerbaijan's important strategic and economic partner," he said. "More than 16 bilateral intergovernmental agreements create a good basis for the development of business relations between entrepreneurs of the two countries. Italian business has showing great interests in Azerbaijan since 2004. During this time 24 Italian companies appeared in our country. At present, 28 companies are operating here."

He said the volume of investments made by Italian companies to Azerbaijan's economy hit $44 million in 2002-2011. The investments in Azerbaijani non-oil sector exceeded $33 million in 1995-2011.

"At the moment, Italian companies are participating in seven state projects worth more than $800 million," Mammadov said.

He said that in 2011, trade turnover between the two countries totalled $9.6 billion, most of which has been ensured due to the export of oil and oil products to Italy. However, there is an increase in imports of Italian products to Azerbaijan as well.

"Italy is Azerbaijan's largest trading partner," he said. "Around 35 per cent of Azerbaijan's foreign trade fall to this country."