Italy Intends To Increase Trade Turnover With Azerbaijan

Italy intends to continue to expand bilateral relations with Azerbaijan and increase the trade turnover between the two countries, Luigi D'Aprea, director general of the Italian Chamber of Commerce in Azerbaijan, said in an interview with Azernews newspaper.

"Italy remains Azerbaijan's main trade partner for the last few years," he said. "The trade turnover between our countries has significantly increased for five years. This mainly concerns the export of Italian goods to Azerbaijan, which increased by 70 percent during this period."

"I know that our countries are very close," D'Aprea said. "Azerbaijan relies on the quality and style of Italian products, our technologies, in particular, the readiness of our companies to cooperate."

D'Aprea said that this aspect will be the starting point for the expansion of cooperation between the two countries.

"The Italian trade agency has set a goal to strengthen bilateral cooperation between the two countries, increase the amount of aid to small and medium-sized enterprises to find the way to new economic opportunities on this market," he said.

"We have been working in Azerbaijan for 15 years," D'Aprea said. "We have been serving as a commercial and advertising department of the embassy of our country. Therefore, our agency is a governmental one."

"I think that our countries will achieve great success in further bilateral relations," he added.

According to the Azerbaijani State Statistics Committee, the trade turnover between the two countries amounted to $567.54 million in January-April 2016. Some $443.47 million (78.14 percent of the total turnover) accounted for the export of Azerbaijani products to Italy. (Cihan/Trend Az)