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Azerbaijan’s President Ilham Aliyev received an Italian delegation led by Chairman of the European Policies Committee of the Senate, Senator Vannino Chiti in Baku on May 26, Azertac reports.

Pointing to the multifaceted Italy-Azerbaijan relations and successful cooperation in a number of fields, President Aliyev underlined the importance of interparliamentary cooperation in further development of these ties.

Hailing fruitful cooperation between Azerbaijan and the European Union, the head of state recalled with pleasure President of the European Council Donald Tusk's and High Representative of the European Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Federica Mogherini's successful visits to Azerbaijan as well as his meeting with Federica Mogherini in Vienna.

President Aliyev noted that documents on Azerbaijan's strategic partnership with 8 European Union member states had already been signed and adopted, adding that Italy was one of these countries.Describing this as a good sign of cooperation between the two countries, the head of state noted that EU, its member states and Azerbaijan attached great importance to this cooperation.

Expressing his confidence that Chiti`s visit to Azerbaijan would be successful, President Aliyev hailed the importance of the visit in terms of discussing bilateral and EU-Azerbaijan relations.

The senator, in turn, described Azerbaijan as one of the important countries both for the EU and Italy.

"Azerbaijan's importance is not limited to its natural resources. Azerbaijan is a Muslim country and a secular state and it is of pivotal significance," the Italian senator said.

He also noted that Azerbaijan was confidently fighting against terrorism, extremism and radicalism.

Chiti emphasized the friendly ties between Azerbaijan and Italy as a good example of bilateral relations.

Azerbaijan and Italy actively continue their joint work in the business sphere and the southern European country ranked first in the list of Azerbaijan's foreign trade partners in Q1 2016 with trade turnover of $462.44 million.

Italy, being the largest importer of Azerbaijani goods, enjoy good relations with the country and export from Italy to Azerbaijan is also growing year by year.

Azerbaijan is the largest supplier of oil to Italy, and with the launch of the Southern Gas Corridor will supply Shah Deniz gas to this country.

The South Caucasus country has made a very important contribution to the preservation of historical heritage of Italy, funding and donating several cultural projects in this country.

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