Interview of the European Bureau of Report with President of the Foreign Affairs Committee of the Senate of Italy, Vito Petrocelli.

- How do you assess the current bilateral cooperation between Azerbaijan and Italy, including cooperation between the parliaments of the two countries?

- The cooperation and bilateral relations between Italy and Azerbaijan are ideal both at the governmental and parliamentary levels. The role of the embassies of the two countries and the friendship groups that carry out activities in the parliament of the two countries are important in the development of these relations. This is once again confirmed by the high-level meetings held during the visit of a delegation led by the Senate Foreign Relations Committee of Italy to Azerbaijan last week.

- How does Italy, as a member of the OSCE Minsk Group, see the prospects for resolving the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict?

- The Italian Parliament supports the implementation of UN resolutions, and is waiting for an important contribution from the parliamentary delegations of Azerbaijan and Armenia to the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly. I personally think that the Trentino-Alto Adice model of regional autonomy in Italy can be considered as a model.

- How do you assess the cooperation between the two countries in the energy sector?

- Cooperation in the energy sector is the main component of bilateral relations.

Cooperation in the oil and gas sector creates an imbalance of several billion euros in the structure of trade between the two countries. I believe that along with Italy’s commitment to implement the TAP project, it would be good from the Azerbaijani side to support the import of high-quality Italian goods and services to balance deficit in trade.