He was making a joint press statement with Italian President Sergio Mattarella on July 18.

“I informed the Italian president about the conflict and expressed Azerbaijan’s position on the current state of the negotiations,” Ilham Aliyev said. “We want this conflict to be resolved soon on the basis of norms and principles of international law within the territorial integrity of Azerbaijan.”

President Ilham Aliyev noted that Nagorno-Karabakh and seven adjacent districts, recognized by the international community as historical lands of Azerbaijan, have been under occupation of Armenia for many years.

“As a result of this occupation and the ethnic cleansing policy, 20 percent of our lands are under occupation, and more than one million Azerbaijanis live as IDPs, refugees,” he said. “War crimes were committed against our people. Our historical and religious monuments were destroyed in the occupied lands. The OSCE sent fact-finding missions to the occupied territories twice, and the reports of these missions indicate that all historical monuments and infrastructure facilities were destroyed by Armenia.”

“The UN Security Council adopted four resolutions 25 years ago,” Ilham Aliyev said. “These resolutions state that the Armenian armed forces must immediately and unconditionally withdraw from the occupied territories. These resolutions are in force and the implementation of these resolutions must be ensured. Unfortunately, Armenia doesn’t recognize these resolutions for many years, continues its aggressive policy and wants to maintain the status quo. The OSCE Minsk Group co-chair countries directly dealing with this issue repeatedly stated at the level of presidents that the status quo is unacceptable and must be changed. We support this position, and we believe that soon steps must be taken to resolve the conflict, and the occupation forces of Armenia must be withdrawn from our historical lands”, Ilham Aliyev noted.

"Azerbaijan for Italy, and Italy for Azerbaijan are very reliable partners", Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev stated.

“Today we discussed the relations between Azerbaijan and the EU,” Ilham Aliyev said. “Italy has a very positive role and position on these issues. I hope that a new agreement will be signed between Azerbaijan and the EU in the near future. The work on the agreement is underway, and we signed, adopted declarations on strategic partnership with the EU member states. Such declarations were adopted with nine countries, including Italy. In 2014, Azerbaijan and Italy adopted a Declaration on Strategic Partnership.”

President Ilham Aliyev stressed that this is a very serious political document.

“As a matter of fact, it shows and determines our attitude towards each other and the format of further cooperation,” Ilham Aliyev said. “As for bilateral relations, as I noted, we are strategic partners, our political ties are at a high level, and the official visit of the president of Italy to Azerbaijan is a vivid example of this. Italy is our first trading partner. Azerbaijan sends its oil to Italy in great volume, there is very good cooperation in the energy sector. I am confident that this cooperation will deepen in the future.”

“Presently, Azerbaijan is successfully implementing the Southern Gas Corridor project jointly with the partner countries,” Ilham Aliyev said. “This project is worth $40 billion, and most of it has been completed. The official opening of the Southern Gas Corridor took place this year in Baku. Turkey’s Eskisehir city hosted the opening of the Trans-Anatolian Natural Gas Pipeline (TANAP) project, which is the major part of the Southern Gas Corridor. That is, the work in this direction is proceeding successfully and at the same time, this plays an important role in the development of relations between Azerbaijan and the EU.”

President Ilham Aliyev stressed that Italian companies successfully operate in Azerbaijan.

“An Italian company took an active part in the construction of the polymer plant that is being opened today,” the Azerbaijani president added. “Many Italian companies operate in Azerbaijan. We also spoke on this issue today, and I told the Italian president that all doors are open for Italian companies in Azerbaijan. We know their level, these are companies that have very high technologies.”

“They implemented many projects in the construction sector, agriculture and heavy industry in Azerbaijan and fulfilled them at a very high level,” Ilham Aliyev said. “Naturally, the meetings being held and the Italian-Azerbaijani business forum, where we will participate tomorrow, will open up new opportunities for us. Because the rapid industrial and economic development of Azerbaijan requires to bring new technologies. Naturally, we would like first of all to purchase and supply these technologies from friendly countries. Today we exchanged views with President Sergio Mattarella on cooperation in the spheres of culture and education, and at the end of the talks we came to a decision that we have no disagreements over the issues on the agenda today. Our opinions on all issues coincide. I am sure that after this visit, our ties will become even stronger and we will continue to cooperate very fruitfully for many years.”

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