Head of the Italian financial and banking association Cassa Depositi Prestiti SpA (CDP) urged increasing mutual investments between Azerbaijan and Italy to eliminate trade imbalance between the two countries, Azernews portal reports. At the meeting between Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev and representatives of major Italian companies in Rome on February 20, Giovanni Gorno Tempini said that Italy’s export to Azerbaijan is less than €500 mio while the trade turnover between the two countries was $6 bln in 2019.
“Italy is Azerbaijan’s number one foreign trade partner. Azerbaijan is one of Italy’s three main energy resources suppliers and the implementation of the Trans-Adriatic Gas Pipeline project will raise our cooperation to a new level,” he said, emphasizing that within the framework of economic diversification, Azerbaijan focuses on the development of agriculture, eco-friendly transport and energy sector modernization. “Italian companies are ready to contribute to this goal. In addition, CDP, as a sovereign investment fund, offers many joint investment opportunities for companies interested in Azerbaijan,” Mr Tempini added.
Trade between Azerbaijan and Italy grew by 10.5% between January and September of the last year. Italy has invested $770 mio in Azerbaijan’s economy, whereas Azerbaijan has invested $1.7 bln in the Italian economy.
Over the last two years, Azerbaijan’s SOCAR state oil company has supplied 15.9 mio tons of crude oil, 189K tons of oil products and 43,700 tons of petrochemical products to Italy. Italy is one of Azerbaijan’s main trade partners with 113 Italian companies being registered in Azerbaijan.