Azerbaijan and Italy, are key countries in Caspian and Mediterranean regions, may play a significant role in the international co-operation. Such position of Azerbaijan was voiced by the Deputy Foreign Minister of Azerbaijan, Araz Azimov, during the consultations on multilateral political questions and co-operation in the sphere of security between Azerbaijan and Italy, which completed on February 7 in Roma,, the Second Secretary of the Azerbaijan Embassy in Italy, Mammad Ahmadzade, exclusively informed Trend.
According to him, the negotiation went on in three directions. Within the first direction, Araz Azimov met with the members of the Government of Italy, especially with Deputy Foreign Minister of Italy, Famino Kruchianelli. The sides discussed prospects of development of political and economical relations. The next meeting of the Azerbaijan delegation in the Department for Multilateral Policy and Human Rights of the Italian Foreign Ministry focused on the questions of co-operation within international organizations, and possibilities of co-operation within UNO were considered, especially support during elections to the bodies of the organization, assistance of Italy in integration of Azerbaijan into EU and NATO, ways of settlement of conflicts in GUAM territory, especially Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, interaction in fighting with international terrorism, organized criminality, role of Azerbaijan in dialogue between civilizations and religions.
In addition, during the consultations, the focus of attention was the questions such as defense of pipelines, security of the state borders of Azerbaijan and energy security. For this purpose, meetings were held with the Deputy Minister of Defense of Italy, Jovani Lorenzo and Head of Forces of Karabiners of the Defense Ministry of Italy. In addition, Azimov met with Deputy Minister on European Policy and International Trade, Milos Budin and discussed the role of Italy in co-operation of Azerbaijan with EU within New Neighborhood Policy.
The second direction of the meetings was with members of the Italian Parliament, representatives of Parliamentary Commissions, as well as chairmen of the Italian parliamentary delegations to NATO, Council of Europe, West-European Union. During the meetings, Azimov spoke about the priorities of the foreign policy of Azerbaijan and integration into European organizations. The Parliamentarians highlighted the importance of Azerbaijan for Italy in energy.
The third direction of the meetings was at the Institute for International Affairs of Italy with the members of the Committees of the Institute and researchers and experts for Caspian and South Caucasus region. Azimov informed the guests on foreign policy of Azerbaijan, strategy of security and prospects of development of Azerbaijan-Italian relations.