Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni has visited Baku, where she met with Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev. The two leaders praised the energy and economic ties between their countries, as Azerbaijan maintains its position as Italy’s second biggest provider of oil and gas. The EU’s top diplomat Kaja Kallas also visited Azerbaijan on Tuesday, rounding a flurry of diplomatic activity.
Meloni visited Baku immediately after taking part in the European Political Community (EPC) summit in Yerevan on 4 May.
In a press conference, Aliyev said that trade turnover between Italy and Azerbaijan ‘amounted to approximately $12 billion’, with much of it centred around energy supplies.
‘Last year, Azerbaijan exported 25 billion cubic metres of natural gas, of which 9.5 billion cubic metres was exported to the Italian market. Today, during our discussions, we discussed increasing this volume’, Aliyev said.
Additionally, he noted that it was necessary for Azerbaijan to expand the Trans Adriatic Pipeline (TAP), ‘which is an integral part of the Southern Gas Corridor’.
‘It has already been expanded to a certain extent, but this process must continue’.
He also touched on potential military-technical development cooperation with Italy.
‘We have concrete ideas regarding the implementation of joint projects, the organisation of joint production, and the combination of Italian technologies with Azerbaijani financial resources. This matter was discussed in detail’.
He said that Azerbaijan State Oil Fund invested approximately $3 billion in the Italian economy and also discussed the ‘channeling these investments into new projects’.
‘Currently, about 130 Italian companies operate in Azerbaijan, and I would like their number to increase further. Notably, Italian companies have implemented and are currently implementing 23 projects in the liberated territories of Karabagh [Nagorno-Karabagh] and East Zangezur’, Aliyev said.
For her part, Meloni said that they discussed ‘strengthening’ energy cooperation.
‘We must work not only on supply volumes but particularly on the quality of industrial partnership across all sectors. We know that energy and connectivity are two sides of the same coin. We would like Azerbaijan to strengthen its role as a fundamental hub between Europe and Asia’, Meloni said, adding that ‘Italy is always ready to play the role of a privileged gateway to the European market’.
She noted that both sides planned to organise a business forum in Baku in the second half of 2026.
Additionally, Melani stated that she hopes both countries can cooperate in the defence and security sectors, including ‘the aerospace industry, maritime security, the protection of critical infrastructure, and advanced technologies’.
‘We wish to deepen our cooperation by valuing Italy’s most sophisticated achievements. We propose a model in which cooperation between our industrial systems results in knowledge exchange, joint development, and the promising future fields that can contribute to regional stability, ultimately unifying our industrial frameworks’.
Baku’s busy schedule after Yerevan
Aside from Meloni, Azerbaijan received several other officials.
After meeting with Meloni on Tuesday, Aliyev received Martin Chungong, the Secretary General of the Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU). The two discussed the EPC summit and the role of the union in ‘facilitating parliamentary dialogue between Armenia and Azerbaijan’.
They also discussed the ‘large-scale restoration and reconstruction efforts underway’ in the Nagorno-Karabakh and surrounding territories and issues surrounding efforts to demine territories that came under Azerbaijan’s control in the last years of its conflict with Armenia.
Additionally, the EU’s top Diplomat Kaja Kallas, who also was in Armenia for the EPC, arrived in Baku on Tuesday, where she met with Foreign Minister Jeyhun Bayramov. The two discussed ‘connectivity between the EU, the South Caucasus, and Central Asia’.
‘We are open to discuss a more structured partnership with Azerbaijan’, Kallas said.
Highlighting the importance of the peace process between Armenia and Azerbaijan, she said that the progress in talks ‘represents a historic opportunity, and it’s important to sustain momentum’.
‘The EU has a range of tools to support this, from supporting confidence-building measures to demining where we’re already the biggest donor’, Kallas stated.
Later, during an expanded meeting, Bayramov and Kallas sides discussed ‘the full scope of Azerbaijan and EU relations, including political dialogue, legal and institutional cooperation, and prospects for further development of the bilateral partnership agenda’.
The pro-government media outlet APA reported that the two ‘stressed the importance of achieving sustainable peace and stability’ highlighting ‘regional and international security issues, including post-conflict developments, reconstruction and rehabilitation efforts, humanitarian demining, and ongoing normalisation efforts in the South Caucasus’.
