By President Ilham Aliyev

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BAKU, Azerbaijan, October 1. I am sure that the
future of the university will be very bright. It will take its
rightful place not only in Azerbaijan, but also on a global scale,
and graduates of the university will contribute to the development
of Azerbaijan, said President Ilham Aliyev as he attended the
inauguration of the first campus of the
Italy-Azerbaijan University in Baku, Trend reports.

Speech by President Ilham Aliyev

– Dear Mr. President.

Dear guests, students and teachers.

Ladies and gentlemen.

It is a very significant day in the history of
Azerbaijani-Italian relations today, as we are participating in the
inauguration of the buildings of the Italy-Azerbaijan University.
When I met with President Mattarella in Rome last year, I informed
him about this and invited him to pay an official visit to
Azerbaijan. I am glad that Mr. President accepted my invitation and
has come to Azerbaijan for a second official visit. We are
inaugurating this wonderful educational institution together as
part of the visit. In fact, the inclusion of this event in the
program of President Mattarella’s official visit shows that both
Italy and Azerbaijan attach great importance to cooperation in this
area. I am sure that the future of the university will be very
bright. It will take its rightful place not only in Azerbaijan, but
also on a global scale, and graduates of the university will
contribute to the development of Azerbaijan. I am sure that those
studying here now and those who will study here in the future will
provide great support for the development of Azerbaijan in the
future, because it is no secret that the development of each
country stems from its scientific and educational potential. If we
look at the experience of developed countries, we will see that it
is knowledge, education, and technology that drive the development
of these countries forward. In today’s world, technological
development determines the success of every country. As a country
rich in natural resources, Azerbaijan has tried, first of all, to
channel the revenues from natural resources into the development of
human capital because we must look to the future. Let me reiterate
that oil, gas and natural resources do not mean that these
countries will have long-term sustainable development. This
development can be short-term. Long-term sustainable development is
built on a foundation of knowledge, technology and education.
Therefore, we in Azerbaijan have been paying great attention to
this area and have been implementing many important programs for
many years.

After I was elected President, I almost immediately issued an
order to send Azerbaijani youth to the world’s leading universities
at the expense of Azerbaijan, to have all their expenses covered by
the government and to have them return to the Motherland as good
specialists. To date, thousands of students have gone to the
world’s leading universities through government support. At the
next stage, we decided to also pay close attention to international
cooperation issues related to the development of the education
system within Azerbaijan. A university is already operating in
Azerbaijan with several foreign partners, and the next university
is the Italy-Azerbaijan University. What makes this university
quite special is that, as rector Hafiz Pashayev has just noted,
this university was established together with five leading Italian
universities and ADA University. Of course, taking into account the
relations of strategic partnership between Italy and Azerbaijan, we
are confident and hopeful that this will become one of the leading
educational institutions in Azerbaijan.

Italy has established relations with Azerbaijan on the basis of
strategic partnership for many years. We are strategic partners in
the true sense of the word, because our cooperation is strategic in
nature. It is not short-term, but long-term. At the same time, new
areas are added to our cooperation framework every year. Ranging
from energy to industrial production and now also covering the
field of education, the cooperation is truly strategic in

Yesterday, as part of President Mattarella’s official visit, we
noted both in official statements and in our negotiations that
Azerbaijani-Italian cooperation has led to great development, for
example, in the energy sector. The TAP project, which is part of
the Southern Gas Corridor, was made possible, to a large extent,
thanks to President Mattarella’s personal involvement and support.
If this had not been resolved at that time, we would not have been
able to export so much natural resources to Europe today. We would
have been suffering from that, and so would Europe. Today,
Azerbaijani gas supports the energy security of eight European
Union member states, and this geography is expanding.
Azerbaijani-Italian cooperation has played a crucial role here.

Azerbaijan is in second place in the Italian market in terms of
gas supply and in first place in terms of oil supply. I am sure
that Italy will also be our number one partner in the field of
education. In any case, what we have seen here and the successes of
the university that has already started operating give reason to
say so. Hundreds of students are already studying at the
university. We also met with the management team here today. An
international team of professors works here, both from Italy and
Azerbaijan. There are also foreign students, and this creates a
very nice atmosphere. I am sure that those studying here and
graduates will be ambassadors of Azerbaijani-Italian friendship in
the future. In any case, the future of Azerbaijani students going
to this university will be connected with Italy. They will get to
know Italy, its culture, its development and successes more
closely. Many goals will be achieved here. First of all, a strong
human resource capacity will be created for the Azerbaijani economy
in the future. The issues of improving our education sector will be
addressed. We will join the most modern and progressive education
system and, at the same time, our friendly relations with Italy,
one of the leading countries of the European Union, will be further
strengthened. Taking into account all these factors, we once again
see that timely and thoughtful steps lead to wonderful results.

It was noted here that the initiative to establish this
university was put forward only five years ago. Documents were
exchanged in Rome, at the Cultural Center within the Azerbaijan
Embassy. Following this, I issued an order. Then, funds were
allocated from Azerbaijan’s state budget for the establishment of
these buildings and the entire infrastructure, and today, in 2025,
we are celebrating the opening of these beautiful buildings.

This is a truly wonderful event. This educational institution
will be a center of Azerbaijani-Italian friendship. I congratulate
each of you on this occasion. I once again express my gratitude to
the President for attending this event together with us. Thank