Presidential Aide: Azerbaijan expands geography of military-technical cooperation

Azerbaijan and Italy have reached an agreement on cooperation in the military-technical field, Assistant of the Azerbaijani President and Head of Foreign Policy Affairs Department of the Presidential Administration Hikmet Hajiyev said in an interview.

He stressed that cooperation in this sphere is a manifestation of the high-level mutual trust between the two countries and the enhanced geographical scope of relations in the military-technical field.

Hajiyev said that the countries had signed a total of 28 documents during President Aliyev's visit to Italy.

"Among those, the 'Joint Declaration on Strengthening Multidimensional Strategic Partnership between the Republic of Azerbaijan and the Italian Republic' is of utmost importance. The signing of the document by President Aliyev and Italian Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte reflects the political value of the agreement.

"The Joint Declaration also reflects the unequivocal stance of the parties on the Armenia-Azerbaijan Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, which is the most painful problem for our country. The political part of the document contains a very significant article on the settlement of the conflict based on the fundamental principles of the Helsinki Final Act, particularly sovereignty, territorial integrity and inviolability of international borders, as well as the relevant resolutions of the UN and the OSCE," he emphasized.

"Italy has always supported Azerbaijan's rightful position in the settlement process, and Azerbaijan has highly appreciated all its efforts. Italy is a member of the OSCE Minsk Group, taking a very active part in the Minsk process. The first Chairman of former CSCE Minsk Conference and present-day OSCE Minsk Group was Italian diplomat Mario Raffaelli. Following the occupation of Aghdam, in 1993, the UN Security Council adopted a resolution based on a report addressed by Italian diplomat Raffaelli to the UN Secretary-General," Hikmet Hajiyev said.