Azer Tag, Azerbaijan
June 9 2005

ITALIAN SENATOR VISITS AZERBAIJAN
[June 09, 2005, 21:24:57]

Staying in Azerbaijan Head of the Italian Senate’s Foreign Affairs
and Migration Commission, member of the Italian parliamentary
delegation to PACE Fiorello Provera has visited today the Alley of
Honors in Baku to commemorate the national leader of Azerbaijan
Heydar Aliyev, and laid a wreath at the tomb of the great statesman.
He also arrived at the Martyrs Alley, where laid flowers at the
memorial `Eternal Fire’ and the tombs of heroic sons of Azerbaijan
who sacrificed their lives for independence and territorial integrity
of Homeland. The guest was informed about the January 20 tragedy in
Baku and execution of peaceful residents in Hojaly, and bitter
consequences of the Armenia-Azerbaijan, Nagorno-Karabakh conflict.

***

Later, the Italian delegation led by Senator Fiorello Provera was
received by Speaker of the Milli Majlis (Parliament) of Azerbaijan
Murtuz Alasgarov. Dwelling on the enhancing Italy – Azerbaijan
cooperation, the Speaker noted in particular, that legal basis for
development of relationship between the two countries had been
created by signing a number of intergovernmental documents during the
official visit to Italy by former President Heydar Aliyev in 1997.
`The recent visit to Italy by incumbent President Ilham Aliyev has
opened a new stage in development of the bilateral relations,’ he
said. Murtuz Alasgarov also mentioned involvement of Italian
companies in various branches of the Azerbaijan’s economy, including
oil sector, appreciated the developing interparliamentary relations
between the two countries and touched upon the roots and aftermath of
the Armenia-Azerbaijan conflict over Nagorno-Karabakh. He thanked
Italian parliamentarians for the support as for the issue during PACE
January session and expressed hope for invariability of the country’s
in the future

For his part, Mr. F. Provera noted his country was interested in
establishment of close cooperation with Azerbaijan in not only oil
but also various other fields including culture and tourism. As for
the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, the Senator stated his stance on the
issues remained unchangeable saying `violation of territorial
integrity of states is unacceptable. He added that Italian Government
continued providing aid to refugees and IDPs in Azerbaijan, and the
other day had adopted a new decision on that. `Azerbaijan can be
confident in our support,’ Mr. F. Provera said.

Speaker Murtuz Alasgarov and Italian Senator have also exchanged
views on a number of other issues of mutual interest.