Azernews.Az

By Nazrin Gadimova

The Azerbaijani-Italian business forum, organized by the Italian Embassy in Azerbaijan, Azerbaijan Fund Export and Investment Promotion (AZPROMO) and the Association of Italian entrepreneurs, will be held in Baku on November 13.

Italy's Ambassador to Azerbaijan Giampaolo Cutillo and Head of Italian Trade Promotion Agency (ITA), Section of the Italian Embassy in Azerbaijan Luigi D'Aprea were interviewed by AzerNews.

Addressing Azerbaijani-Italian relations, Ambassador Giampaolo Cutillo, said that the two countries are very good partners and there is a great friendship between the two countries.

"Only three months ago our Prime Minister Enrico Letta came to Baku and was welcomed by the Azerbaijani President. At that time, they committed to further strengthening of bilateral cooperation, which we believe has now reached a kind of strategic partnership in many different sectors," the ambassador said.

"One dimension relates to energy, of course, this comes with the announcement of TAP and the actions of the Italy and Azerbaijan governments--along with many other players, who are committed to continue these efforts in the years to come," he added. "There is more to do at-large as well in many other sectors of cooperation; in the non-oil sector, Italy can certainly contribute to the diversification of the Azerbaijani economy and many other things at the political level - we have an excellent dialogue and also promote cultural events, activities, and tourism among other things."

The ambassador said that Italy's Embassy in Azerbaijan has two objectives concerning humanitarian interaction - to make Azerbaijan, a very young intercultural country, better known in Italy, and to promote Italy in Azerbaijan.

"As a young intercultural country, Azerbaijan deserves to be better known in our country, and I have to say that the government of Azerbaijan has done and will continue to do a lot in this regard. There are many cultural activities, important events, which are promoted and sponsored in Italy by the government of Azerbaijan.

Azerbaijan opened a permanent pavilion at the Venice Art Biennale few months ago, and it has also promoted some musical events. Last but not least, Azerbaijan will play an important role with participation in the Expo Milano 2015 world exposition. The other side is that we also try to promote Italy here. I know that Azerbaijani people love Italy and this is a matter of great happiness and pride for me, being the Italian ambassador to this country. We are planning to have cultural events in Azerbaijan in 2014, for example to open Opera theatre of Rome, and we are interested in all initiatives, which can strengthen knowledge between the two countries," Cutillo said.

Speaking about trade turnover between Italy and Azerbaijan, the ambassador said that Italy is already a dominant trade partner of Azerbaijan and it is mostly because of our large amount of imports of oil and gas from Azerbaijan, but at the same time both sides are working on expanding this area of cooperation.

"Next week a major business delegation will come to Azerbaijan, and Baku will host an Italian-Azerbaijani business forum, where Italy's leading companies in field of energy, as well as construction and infrastructure will participate. We are working in a close cooperation with Azerbaijan to organize this forum. Our Deputy Minister for Economic Development will also be there and will be meeting and interacting with his counterparts. All this is a part of a joint effort to strengthen our cooperation and to increase the trade turnover between our countries."

Regarding the TAP project, the ambassador said that TAP is infrastructure, which will allow Italy, Southern Europe and the European Union to access a new energy supplies. He also said that Azerbaijan's source is secure and stable and this is very important for Italy, because it considering its geographical position as a heart of the Mediterranean.

Moreover, Head of the Agency for the Promotion of Italian Enterprises Abroad and Internationalization, (ICE) Luigi D'Aprea, spoke about the upcoming Azerbaijani-Italian business forum.

"We are going to approach about 70 Italian companies, approximately 100 -120 Italian entrepreneurs. That's why it will be a very big event. There is strict cooperation with our local partner AZPROMO on arrangements for this event.

The event will be dedicated to two different aspects of energy - oil and gas companies, [including] mechanics, equipment, plants and all the goods related to the oil and gas sector. On the other side we have a building constructor, an Italian architecture company, a project company, an interior design company, an environment technical and engineering company, and of course, it will be a big event for these quality Italian entrepreneurs. There will be very well-known Italian companies for these two very big sectors. Of course, we know that these two sectors are the main sectors of the Azerbaijani economy. That's why we would like to cooperate in these branches," D'Aprea said.

D'Aprea said that the visit to Azerbaijan will give Italian entrepreneurs to evaluate the real economic opportunities of the market.

"This very big mission is a first step and other promotional activities are going to be arranged in this country. Many of these Italian entrepreneurs will be in Azerbaijan for the first time and it will give them the opportunity to understand the absolute beauty of this country," he said.

In this framework will be arranged more than two hundred bilateral meetings between Italian and Azeri companies.

Regarding Italian companies cooperating in Azerbaijan, D'Aprea said that about 100 Italian enterprises already operate in Azerbaijan.

On the TAP project, D'Aprea said that it will improve the relationships between the two countries and will give Azerbaijan the opportunity to export gas to Europe, and especially to Italy, passing through Turkey, Greece and Albania.

Italy recognized Azerbaijan's independence in January 1991. The diplomatic relations between the two countries were established in May 1992.

Earlier Azerbaijan's State Customs Committee said that Italy remains the largest importer of Azerbaijani goods. Almost a quarter of Azerbaijan's export fell to Italy in January-July 2013 compared to 22 percent in the same period of 2012.