The Chair of the Milli Majlis Sahiba Gafarova met with the visiting delegation led by the Deputy Chair of the Chamber of Deputies of the Italian Parliament Ettore Rosato on 7 December.

Welcoming the guests, Madame Speaker remarked that their visit served to deepen the relations between our countries and parliaments and that it was gratifying that the bilateral co-operation rooted in the ancient past had graduated to a qualitatively new level since Azerbaijan had gained state independence. Azerbaijan and Italy are two close friends and strategic partners now. The visits exchanged by the presidents of the two countries and the discussions they had held had played a massive role in the attainment of the current level of interaction, Mrs Gafarova remarked before pointing at the solid legal foundation that the documents the two countries had signed to date had built for the bipartite collaboration.

According to Madame Speaker, our political, economic and cultural bonds are developing increasingly; the continued political dialogue is having its benevolent effect on the on-going intensification of the economic co-operation. That Italy is the top trade partner of Azerbaijan in Europe is no accident. The volume of trade between the two countries reached US$ 6 bn in only last year and amounted to US$ 4.2 bn in January-October this year. The business forums arranged regularly, too, are strengthening and deepening the bilateral relations in various economic fields.

Azerbaijan is an important contributor to the European energy security architecture now, and not only thanks to its oil but also due to the TANAP and TAP gas pipeline projects.

Speaking further, Madame Speaker referred to the high level of bilateral co-operation in such areas as culture, humanitarian affairs, sciences and education. She mentioned the well-known projects that Azerbaijan’s First Vice President Mehriban Aliyeva had implemented in Italy in her role of the Heydar Aliyev Foundation President and the ICESCO/UNESCO goodwill ambassador.

Mrs Gafarova also spoke of the hands-on involvement of both countries’ parliaments in the furtherance of the bilateral relations, and the tight interaction between the Milli Majlis and both houses of the Italian Parliament built up over the recent years. The high-level visits that the two countries have exchanged to date are a vivid token of the quality of this interaction. It is comforting, according to Mrs Gafarova, that both parliaments have the friendship groups in action – the contacts between those groups matter immensely for the on-going experience and information exchange.

Madame Speaker praised the guests’ trips to the cities of Ganja and Agdam during the current visit as they could see with their own eyes the war crimes that Armenia had committed there. She went further to say that the Azerbaijani Army liberated the territories of our country occupied for nearly 30 years previously and restored the territorial integrity of Azerbaijan under the guidance of the Commander-in-Chief in 44 days.

In addition, Mrs Gafarova spoke highly of the Italian MPs’ visit to Azerbaijan at the time when the coronavirus is rampant the world over.

Signor Rosato thanked Sahiba khanim for the heartfelt welcome before emphasising the great importance attached by his country to advancing the relations with this particular region of the South Caucasus and saying that his current visit together with his delegation was specifically a sign of the friendly attitude towards Azerbaijan. The steady highest-level political dialogue manifests itself in the interparliamentary relations, too. As for the visits to the Azerbaijani cities of Ganja and Agdam of a delegation representing the different political parties of the Senate and the Chamber of Deputies of Italy, those visits should be regarded from this particular point of view, said the Deputy Chair of the Chamber of Deputies of the Italian Parliament.

Being the friends of Azerbaijan, Mr Rosato remarked, the delegation were going to leave no stone unturned to tell Italy and the world the local realia and what they had been able to see during the visit to the region. He also promised that efforts would be made to strengthen the positions of Azerbaijan in the European institutions.

Then spoke a Member of the Italian Parliament’s Chamber of Deputies and leader of the Italy-Azerbaijan Friendship Group Rossana Boldi, the Italian Senators Maria Rizzotti and Adolfo Urso, a Member of the Chamber of Deputies Pino Cabras and the leader of the Milli Majlis Working Group for Interparliamentary Contacts with Italy Azer Karimli. They shared opinions about the today and the tomorrow of the progressing relations between the legislative bodies of the two countries and about deepening the bonds in other facets of life.

The Press and Public Relations Department
The Milli Majlis