On August 31, Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev arrived in Rome for a working visit at the invitation of Italian President Sergio Mattarella, the Press Office of the Azerbaijani President reported.

On September 1, a new building of the Embassy of the Republic of Azerbaijan in the Italian Republic opened in Rome. Ilham Aliyev attended the inauguration. The first and second floors of the building will serve as the Azerbaijan Culture Center, and the third to fifth floors will house the Embassy.

Meeting with Sergio Mattarella

On the same day, Aliyev met with President of the Italian Republic Sergio Mattarella. A ceremonial guard of honor was arranged for President Ilham Aliyev at the Quirinale Palace in Rome.

Welcoming President of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev, Sergio Mattarella said: "After a visit in 2020, which is evidence of the strategic nature of our relationship, I am very pleased and honored to welcome you here at the Quirinale Palace again."

Ilham Aliyev said: "Mr. President, I am grateful for the invitation and for the hospitality. I also remember my last visit. All the agreements reached are being implemented. The last time we met here, we signed an important document on strategic partnership. At the same time, we talked about the establishment of the Italy-Azerbaijan University. Today, an important step was taken towards the establishment of the Italy-Azerbaijan University.

Meeting with President of Council of Ministers of Italy Mario Draghi

Ilham Aliyev and President of the Council of Ministers of the Italian Republic Mario Draghi have held a one-on-one meeting in Rome. 

During the conversation, the sides hailed the development of the political dialogue between the two countries and noted the development of bilateral relations based on strategic partnership. The sides also pointed to the critical role Azerbaijan played in ensuring the energy security of the European Union and Italy in particular. The two leaders touched upon cooperation issues between the two countries in economy, science, education, culture, art, and other fields. It was also stressed that Italian companies were actively involved in the restoration and reconstruction work carried out in the territories liberated from occupation. During the meeting, the sides discussed the relations between the European Union and Azerbaijan, including the visit by the President of the European Commission Ursula von der Leyen, to Azerbaijan, and stressed the importance of signing the Memorandum of Understanding on Strategic Partnership in the field of energy between Azerbaijan and the European Union as part of the visit.

President of the Council of Ministers Mario Draghi stated that this visit would contribute to the development of bilateral relations between the two countries and emphasized that excellent relations had been established between Italy and Azerbaijan at the level of strategic partnership and that mutual trade was continuously increasing. Successful cooperation was being implemented in the field of energy.

Participation in international Cernobbio Forum

On September 2, the 48th edition of the international Cernobbio Forum under the motto “Intelligence on the World, Europe, and Italy” and “Today's and tomorrow's scenario for competitive strategies” organized by the European House - Ambrosetti think tank kicked off in Cernobbio, Italy. Ilham Aliyev attended the Forum as a chief guest at the international forum at the invitation of the Italian President Sergio Mattarella, President of the Council of Ministers of Italy Mario Draghi, and the European House - Ambrosetti think tank.

"To talk about Azerbaijan’s role in energy security, I need to draw your attention to some historical moments. Our energy strategy had been divided into stages. In the first stage, just three years after the restoration of our independence in 1994, we were the first country that invited major energy companies of the world to work in the Caspian Sea. And very soon, we became an exporter of oil to the European market, primarily to Italy and Azerbaijan is the number one oil supplier to Italy for many years," he said.

The Azerbaijani President said that last month in Baku, Madam Ursula von der Leyen, President of the European Commission, and myself signed a Memorandum of Understanding on strategic partnership in the energy field between the European Commission and Azerbaijan. "This is a very important step towards further development of our energy resources and based on that, I called it a roadmap for the future, we will plan, and I am sure we will achieve it, to double our energy – natural gas export to Europe. But for that we need to undertake important steps – political decisions, technical steps and, of course, investments, because the capacity of the Southern Gas Corridor in different segments is different. TANAP has capacity of 16 billion cubic meters. We plan to expand it up to 32 billion cubic meters and TAP has a capacity of 10 billion cubic meters and it is almost full, so we need to expand it at least to 20. That will need, of course, additional financial contribution. As a country, as an investor, we are ready to do it, but that also must be done by other members of our team. At the same time, now in Europe we see that after the Russian-Ukrainian war, the issue of natural gas became one of the most important on Europeans’ agenda and there are different projects of interconnectors. One of them, Greece-Bulgaria, is close to be inaugurated. There are other projects of that kind. There is one projects, which is called the Ionic-Adriatic pipeline, which will bring Azerbaijani gas to three Balkan countries. In general, I can tell you than after the beginning of the Russian-Ukrainian war, we got official requests from more than 10 countries with respect to the increase of our supply or starting our supply, including those countries which already get our gas like Turkiye, Georgia, Italy and Bulgaria and many more," he added.