Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev and Italian Prime Minister Mario Draghi discussed energy supplies by phone. This was reported by the press service of the Azerbaijani president.

“During the conversation, it was emphasised that Azerbaijan and Italy have established fruitful cooperation in the economic, trade and energy sectors.” The importance of the Southern Gas Corridor and its component part of the Trans-Adriatic Gas Pipeline was noted.

According to the press service, during the conversation, the parties noted that Azerbaijan is the largest supplier of oil to Italy. It ranks third in terms of gas supplies.

It is reported that Draghi and Aliyev agreed to develop cooperation. They also discussed plans to create an Italian-Azerbaijani University in Baku.

It is worth noting that earlier in Italy they turned to Azerbaijan with a request to increase gas supplies from 8 billion cubic meters per year to 10 billion to reduce fuel supplies from Russia. This requires increasing the capacity of the Trans-Adriatic gas pipeline, as well as connecting it with a pipeline from Turkmenistan to the Caspian Sea. But without the consent of the Russian Federation, it is impossible to lay a gas pipeline along the bottom of the sea.

Italy has become the biggest trade partner of Azerbaijan in importing crude oil and oil products. 51.9% of exportation from Azerbaijan has been directed to Italy since 2003. Italy mainly exports pipes for the oil sector, tobacco, leather, and furniture to Azerbaijan. The visits of the ministers of Economic Developments of both countries in 2007 resulted in signed agreements on the cooperation between Azerbaijan and Italy in the sector of natural gas.

In 2005 Azerbaijan exported 50% of its oil to Italy. The owner of a 5% share in the Contract of the Century, an Italian company Eni-Agip, is involved in the construction of the Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan oil pipeline. Several other companies in Italy also participated in the construction of the pipeline on the basis of the contract. The official opening ceremony was held in July 2006. Eni-Agip is also active in the project Shahdeniz and in the oil field Kyurdashy. In June 2013, it was decided that the Trans-Adriatic Pipeline (TAP) will go from Azerbaijan through Turkey and Greece to southern Italy.