Azerbaijan and Italy have very strong political and economic relations, Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev said on Thursday.

The head of state, who is on a working visit to Rome, made the remarks following the ceremony of exchanging signed agreements for the establishment of the academic cooperation framework for the Italy-Azerbaijan University and creation of faculties and programs, News.Az reports.  

President Aliyev stated that two documents on strategic partnership have been signed between Italy and Azerbaijan.

“We have very strong political and economic relations. Italy is Azerbaijan’s first trading partner. Last year, our turnover reached 9.6 billion dollars, and in seven months of this year, it has been 11 billion dollars,” he said.

“Today's ceremony shows that we will act as a strategic partner in the field of education in the future. It is no secret that the development of each country is not determined by natural resources, but by knowledge, competence and technological progress. In Azerbaijan, we are channeling the revenues obtained from natural resources into human capital, and today's event is clear evidence of that. At the same time, I am sure that the Italy-Azerbaijan University will become a center of Italian-Azerbaijani friendship. In other words, I think that today we are witnessing a historic event. Today is the first day of my working visit to Italy and this is the first event. I am sure that the upcoming meetings with Italian leaders will further strengthen our friendship and partnership,” the Azerbaijani leader added.

News.Az