Moreover, Ilham Aliyev is currently one of the most experienced heads of state, and in this regard his person, his opinion and methods are also of great interest.
The Cernobbio Forum, Musabayov pointed out, is financed by the Italian business community, which is interested in promoting their business. It is clear that in today’s world, major business projects require two components. The first component is reliability, a guarantee that the business will not be affected by the political situation. The second one is security in the region of investment. Azerbaijan fully meets these requirements, unlike Georgia and Armenia.
“For example, Armenia, under the pretext of alleged environmental reasons, terminated a contract with a foreign company mining gold in its territory. Georgia signed a contract for the construction of a large energy hub with a Turkish company, and then, allegedly under pressure from environmentalists and protesting citizens, essentially cancelled this contract, putting forward completely unjustified demands. Of course, this adversely affects the business environment. Meanwhile, Azerbaijan always builds long-term relations based on the commitments it has made. In this respect, our country is a great partner for the Italian business community. President Ilham Aliyev’s invitation to speak at the forum and state the country’s priorities was based on rational considerations and the interest of the Italian business community in the country that knows how to honor its commitments. Azerbaijan has implemented large-scale multi-billion projects and our country’s partners have never initiated legal proceedings against us over any of these projects, and nobody accused Baku of breaking the deal and failing to perform its obligations,” the political scientist said.
Answering our questions, Rasim Musabayov noted that Italy is in a better position than, for example, Germany, which was very dependent on Russian oil and coal, and especially on gas and is having a hard time today. While this country is urgently building terminals to receive liquefied gas and introducing emergency austerity measures, Italy and its citizens have a stable source of oil and gas in Azerbaijan. More than that, they have the capacity to increase the volume of incoming Azerbaijani hydrocarbons. That is a great advantage over other countries, the MP stressed.
“From the very beginning Italy has built relations with Azerbaijan based on non-interference in internal affairs. It never tries to give unsolicited advice concerning our relations with Armenia or our domestic agenda. Azerbaijan does the same. There is stability and predictability in our relations, and this provides a good basis for the Italian business to feel very confident and comfortable in our country. Azerbaijan has in Italy a reliable partner with whom we can make long-term plans on energy supplies. Energy supply projects are generally very expensive, and if a country makes investments, it should be sure that these schemes will be supported by partners and no extraneous circumstances will impede the established business relations,” Rasim Musabayov said.
Leyla Tariverdiyeva
Translated from Day.Az
