AZE.US
Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni visited Azerbaijan and held a one-on-one meeting with President Ilham Aliyev in Baku, with energy, trade and Europe’s changing security landscape at the center of the talks.
Meloni said before her arrival in Azerbaijan that Baku is a strategic partner for Italy, particularly in the supply of gas and oil. Her remarks came as European governments continue to debate energy security, strategic autonomy and the need to reduce vulnerabilities in critical sectors.
“I am now going to Azerbaijan, another strategic partner for us in terms of both gas and oil supplies,” Meloni said.
Aliyev, speaking after the meeting, said Azerbaijan and Italy are strategic partners and described Meloni’s visit as another sign of the depth of relations between the two countries.
He said political ties between Baku and Rome are at the highest level, while trade relations are also strong. Italy, Aliyev noted, is Azerbaijan’s number one trade partner.
Energy remains the core of that relationship. According to Aliyev, Azerbaijan exported 25 billion cubic meters of natural gas last year, including 9.5 billion cubic meters to the Italian market.
The Azerbaijani president said the sides are now discussing an increase in those volumes. That would require further expansion of the Trans Adriatic Pipeline, or TAP, which is part of the Southern Gas Corridor. Aliyev said the pipeline has already been expanded to a certain extent, but the process is continuing.
The talks also covered Italy’s role in reconstruction projects in Karabakh and Eastern Zangezur. Aliyev said Italian companies have completed or are currently implementing 23 projects in the liberated territories, placing Italy among the leading foreign partners involved in that work.
Meloni said she was confident that friendly ties between Italy and Azerbaijan would continue to develop and reach a higher level. She also said the sides had reaffirmed the need to further expand cooperation.
The visit had a wider European context as well. Before traveling to Baku, Meloni commented on U.S. President Donald Trump’s remarks about a possible reduction of American military presence in Italy and Spain. She said Europe must strengthen its own security and increase its ability to respond independently.
At the same time, Meloni stressed that Italy has always fulfilled its commitments, including within NATO and in missions in Afghanistan and Iraq. She described some of Trump’s comments about Italy as incorrect.
For Baku, the visit underlined Azerbaijan’s growing weight in Europe’s energy and security calculations.
For Rome, it confirmed that Azerbaijan is not only a supplier of gas and oil, but also a strategic partner on the southern edge of Europe at a time when the continent is reassessing both its energy routes and its security dependencies.
AZE.US