President of the Republic of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev has received head of the Italian delegation to the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly, deputy head of the Foreign Affairs Committee at the Chamber of Deputies of the Italian Parliament Paolo Grimoldi.

Noting that Azerbaijan and Italy enjoy multifaceted relations in political, economic and other areas, the head of state stressed the importance of high-level visits. Recalling that the Italian President visited Azerbaijan last year and he visited Italy several times, the head of state said that during the official visit of the Italian President to Azerbaijan, the Azerbaijani and Italian presidents inaugurated a large industrial enterprise built by Italian companies. President Ilham Aliyev pointed out a good format of cooperation between the two countries in industrial, energy, cultural and other spheres.

Sharing his good impressions of Baku, Paolo Grimoldi underlined that the two countries are bound together by close ties. Emphasizing that there are a number of agreements between Azerbaijan and Italy in the field of energy, Paolo Grimoldi hailed the successful continuation of works on the TAP pipeline, which will bring the Azerbaijani gas to Italy. Paolo Grimoldi said that apart from the development of economic cooperation, the bilateral relations between the two countries are conditioned by the political ties. He pointed out fruitful cooperation between Azerbaijani and Italian delegations in the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly.

They also exchanged views on the development of bilateral cooperation between the two countries in cultural, tourism, sports and other areas.