Paolo Gentiloni: Italy Ready to Contribute to Karabakh Settlement

Italy supports the conclusion of relations between Azerbaijan and the European Union on a new plane. On Monday in Baku, this was said by the Italian Foreign Minister Paolo Gentiloni at a press conference with his Azerbaijani counterpart Elmar Mammadyarov.

One of the main topics of the talks was the pipeline project TAP, providing pumping Azerbaijani gas to the Apennines Peninsula.

"We have a high level of cooperation. Trade relations with Azerbaijan are at a high level. Azerbaijan is the first or second power country for Italy. We hope that the TAP project will be implemented in time. This is not just a pipeline that will deliver gas to Europe, but also a cooperation project from Asia to Europe. TAP is very significant for Europe," the Italian minister said.

According to him, the Italian company and the technology can contribute to the diversification of the Azerbaijani economy, including agriculture, textile industry and others.

According to the Azerbaijani Minister, in addition to these issues there were also discussed issues of cooperation in the field of transport, tourism, humanitarian and inter-parliamentary relations.

He noted that at the meeting with the Minister of Energy of Azerbaijan Natig Aliyev the date of the next meeting of the intergovernmental commission on cooperation will be determined.

With regard to the implementation of TAP, then, according to Mammadyarov, there were some delays in the implementation of the project.

“But we received from member countries, in particular Italy, answers that the question was resolved. We hope that the project will be delivered in late 2018 - early 2019," said Mammadyarov.

Gentiloni confirmed that in Italy issues related to concerns about the protection of the environment in connection with the project have been resolved.

He also said that Italy during the upcoming presidency of the EU (2017) and the OSCE (2018) will contribute to the settlement of the Karabakh conflict through negotiations.

 "Italy during its chairmanship in the OSCE will seek to improve the organization of efforts to resolve the frozen conflicts in Europe, to strengthen the role of mediators in resolving conflicts in Ukraine, Georgia and Nagorno-Karabakh. The focus will be also on migration processes in the OSCE region,” said Gentiloni.

Mammadyarov, in turn, noted that the Armenian side once again demonstrates the lack of readiness to move forward in the peace process.

"After the St. Petersburg meeting of the Presidents we had a hope that we are working and can result in the right direction. Unfortunately, Armenia is not ready for promotion. They say they are not prepared to change the status quo. At present, a Foreign Ministers meeting is prepared in Hamburg (in the framework of the OSCE Ministerial Council on 8-9 December). The co-chairs of the Minsk Group have such an offer. The Azerbaijani side has agreed to this meeting. I would like to say something optimistic, but the Armenian side is delaying a decision of the questions. We want to restore the atmosphere of St. Petersburg,” said the minister. -03C06--