Baku, Azerbaijan, June 16
By Jamila Aliyeva - Trend:
The opening ceremony of the Baku 2015 European Games has been one of the most incredible experiences, beautiful, very elegant and very well organized, Italy's ambassador to Azerbaijan, Giampaolo Cutillo, told Trend on June 16.
Commenting on the flow of negative information in Western media outlets with regard to Azerbaijan, the diplomat said there is no need to mix sports and politics.
"I don't think there is any need to mix sports and politics, these are two different things," said Cutillo.
The ambassador also said the relations between Azerbaijan and Italy are always ongoing.
"We have a very good excellent cooperation, strategic partnership," he said. "Our government was represented at the high level at the [Baku 2015] opening ceremony. We are looking forward to better relations and closer cooperation in all sectors."
The ambassador also noted that in the last two months Azerbaijan was visited by three ministers of Italy.
He also said there will be many more mutual visits in the months to come.
According to Azerbaijan's State Customs Committee, in January-February 2015, the trade between Azerbaijan and Italy stood at $554.8 million.
Meanwhile, some $485.7 million accounted for the exports from Azerbaijan, and $69 million accounted for the imports.
The European Games that kicked off in Baku June 12, will last till June 28.
There is a total of 20 sports at Baku 2015: 16 Olympic sports and four non-Olympic sports.
More than 6,000 athletes from across Europe will be representing their nations over 17 days of competition.
Baku was awarded the games by the European Olympic Committees (EOC) in December 2012.