Analyst: Cooperation between Azerbaijan and Italy can be expanded in various areas

Cooperation between Azerbaijan and Italy can be expanded in such areas as construction, tourism, and agriculture, Italian political scientist, senior analyst of Geopolitica.info Salvatore Santangelo told Report.

"Italy and Azerbaijan have the opportunity to expand bilateral cooperation in a wide range of areas thanks to the mutual complementarity of the countries. Italy strives for energy security, and Azerbaijan ranks 25th in the world in terms of gas reserves; Azerbaijan has a plan for a 'green' transition, and Italy is a superpower in 'green' energy; Azerbaijan needs advanced defense production, and Italy ranks sixth in the world in arms exports. In addition, Italian companies are already working on the restoration of the liberated territories of Azerbaijan and play a leading role in the country's pursuit of industrialization 4.0, as evidenced by their participation in the construction of smart cities," the analyst said.

He also noted that Azerbaijan is one of Italy's main energy partners, and there are great prospects for expanding cooperation between the countries in this area.

"The numbers speak for themselves: Azerbaijan met 10% of Italy's gas needs in 2021, increasing volumes by 4% in 2022," Santangelo said, adding that the expansion of the capacity of the Trans-Adriatic Gas Pipeline (TAP) could double gas supplies to Italy in the near future, and further exploration of oil and gas reserves in the Caspian Sea may increase the time horizon of energy cooperation.

According to him, relations between Italy and Azerbaijan also include cooperation and coordination in the international arena: "Italy contributed to the activation of the Azerbaijan-EU and Azerbaijan-NATO partnership and played a key role in preparing the conditions for the negotiations between the EU and Azerbaijan, which led to the signing of the memorandum on mutual understanding on energy cooperation in July 2022."