AMBASSADOR TO ITALY MEETS WITH DIPLOMATIC ADVISER OF ITALIAN PM

AzerTag, Azerbaijan
June 20 2006

Ambassador of Azerbaijan to Italy Emil Karimov met in Rome with
Ambassador Stefano Sanino, the Diplomatic Adviser of the Chairman of
the Italian Council of Ministers.

Ambassador Karimov conveyed congratulations and greetings from
President of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev to newly elected Prime Minister
of Italy Romano Prodi. He recalled Mr. Prodi’s meeting with national
leader and late President of Azerbaijan Heydar Aliyev in 1997 in Rome
and with incumbent President Ilham Aliyev in 2004 when the Italian
Premier was in Baku as the President of the European Commission.

Speaking of the current state of Azerbaijan-Italy relationship,
Ambassador Karimov noted there were good opportunities for enhancement
of cooperation between the two countries in various areas. He added
that the last year’s official visit to Italy by President Ilham Aliyev
opened a new area in the bilateral relations, and informed Mr. Sanino
on the meetings held and documents signed during the visit, as well
as the positives of the Italy-Azerbaijan business forum.

Mr. Karimov named Italy the Azerbaijan’s largest trade partner
pointing to good opportunities for cooperation and making
investments in the country’s agriculture and chemical, tourism
and light industries. Reminding of the recent commissioning of the
Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan oil pipeline, he let Mr.

Sanino know that a number of Italian companies show great interest
in transportation of gas through Baku-Tbilisi-Erzurum pipeline to
start operating soon.

The Azeri Ambassador said the leadership of Azerbaijan intends
to continue cooperation with the new Italian government noting the
importance of organizing high-level reciprocal visits, in particular,
that of Prime Minister Romano Prodi to Azerbaijan.

Ambassador Stefano Sanino expressed satisfaction with the current state
of Azerbaijan-Italy relationship especially noting the cooperation
in energy field. He said his country attaches particular importance
to enhancement of cooperation with Azerbaijan. Mr. Sanino confirmed
that Prime Minister Romano Prodi welcomes Azerbaijan’s European
integration efforts, and supports the region countries’ joining the
New Neighborhood Policy of the European Union.

Ambassador Karimov also spoke of the democratic reforms in Azerbaijan,
the steps taken to ensure economic growth and social improvements
in the country, and touched on the Armenia-Azerbaijan conflict
over Nagorno-Karabakh. He described the conflict, which has lead to
occupation of 20% of the Azerbaijani territories and over one million
people’s becoming refugees and internally displaced, as a major threat
to cooperation and security in the region. The diplomat expressed
gratitude to the Italian government for supporting Azerbaijan’s
position in the conflict.

Ambassador Sanino regretted that the conflict has not yet been resolved
and expressed readiness of his country to contribute to its peaceful
resolution.