Foreign Minister Elmar Mammadyarov gave a speech at the Italian Society for International Organizations (SIOI)

Within the frameworks of his official visit, Foreign Minister Elmar Mammadyarov visited Italy’s one of the oldest and prestigious think tanks the Italian Society for International Organizations (SIOI), located in Rome.

Minister Elmar Mammadyarov and the former Foreign Minister of Italy and the President of SIOI Franco Frattini attended the opening of the photo exhibition dedicated to the 25th anniversary of establishment of diplomatic relations between Azerbaijan and Italy. The points of interest from the history of diplomatic relations between the two countries, photographs, as well as copies of documents reflecting the high-level visits, the history of relations and the events held in Italy for promoting the realities and the culture of Azerbaijan were included in the exhibition.

Following the exhibition they held a conference at SIOI dedicated to the 25th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between Azerbaijan and Italy.
Giving an opening speech at the conference, Franco Frattini shared his impressions from the numerous visits to our country and gave a brief information about Azerbaijan's role in regional and international politics.

Giving the next speech, Benedetto Della Vedova, Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs of Italy, noted that the Italy-Azerbaijan cooperation is based on a solid foundation and has risen to the level of strategic partnership and the relations between the two countries has developed in all spheres.

During his speech Foreign Minister Elmar Mammadyarov touched upon Azerbaijan's foreign policy priorities and prospects of development of relations between Azerbaijan and Italy.

In this regard, Minister Elmar Mammadyarov briefed about our country's history of independence, Armenia's aggression against Azerbaijan and its grave consequences, the conflict settlement process, energy and transport strategy, the TANAP and TAP projects, our contributions to international peace and security, promotion of multiculturalism and inter-religious dialogue and Azerbaijan’s relations with Italy and EU.

Afterwards Minister E.Mammadyarov answered numerous questions from the audience.

Members of the Italian Parliament, academicians in the fields of international relations and international law, researchers, media representatives and members of the diplomatic corps accredited in Italy participated at the event.