On the 3rd of February, the Italian Ambassador in Azerbaijan Augusto Massari took part in the signing ceremony of two contracts between the Italian Maire Tecnimont and the Azerbaijani oil company Socar. These deals are for the new generation refining units at the Heydar refinery in Baku and they are worth approximately 160 million dollars
The contracts concern the installation of three process units necessary for the production of EURO-5 fuel. Rovnag Abdullayev – the president of SOCAR, Fabrizio Di Amato – Chairman of Maire Tecnimont and Pierroberto Folgiero – CEO of the Maire Tecnimont Group attended the signing ceremony. Before the signing ceremony, the leaders of the Maire Tecnimont group, accompanied by Ambassador Augusto Massari, had an interview with the President of the Republic of Azerbaijan, Ilham Aliyev.
Maire Tecnimont in Azerbaijan
Maire Tecnimont has been operating in Azerbaijan for over 6 years. It was involved with SOCAR in 2015 as a general contractor for the construction of a polypropylene plant in Sumgayit. The company also participates in the project of reconstruction and modernization of Baku’s oil refinery. Announcing his determination to expand activities in Azerbaijan, Di Amato stated:
“We are making our contribution to the industrialization of your country.’’
The president of Azerbaijan congratulated the Italian company by inviting di Amato to continue investing in Azerbaijan. He proposed some opportunities for future collaboration which included green chemistry. At the same time, he also welcomed the involvement of the University of Turin in research and development scopes. With the award of these new orders, the Italian group Maire Tecnimont has consolidated its position as the largest contractor in the downstream sector in Azerbaijan. Activities of the Maire Tecnimont Group and the projects it implements helped to develop the non-oil sector, which last year increased by 12.5% despite the pandemic and the economic recession.
relationships between Italy and Azerbaijan
‘’This is really a sign of friendship; this is a demonstration of friendship. I would like to express my gratitude to you and express my assurance that we will continue to work together with your company, with your partners. I am sure that the more Italian business community knows about opportunities here and very cordial relations to Italy, the more Italian companies will come. That’s what we want’’ – said President Ilham Aliyev.
The next day Ambassador Augusto Massari was received by the Minister of Economy, Mikayil Jabbarov. During the meeting various mutually interesting points were examined attentively and topics regarding Italy and Azerbaijan’s collaboration were addressed. Both representatives emphasized the excellent political and economic relation between the two countries. Minister Jabbarov expressed satisfaction with the many business-to-business and people-to-people contacts currently in place between the two countries.
