Last 3 February, Maire Tecnimont Group Chairman Fabrizio Di Amato and CEO Pierroberto Folgiero, accompanied by the Italian Ambassador Augusto Massari, led a delegation of staff at a meeting with Azerbaijan President Ilham Aliyev during their visit to Baku.

During the meeting, the Top Management and President Aliyev discussed about Group’s strategic long-term presence in the Azerbaijani market and positive collaboration among Italy and Azerbaijan.

Tecnimont’s partnership with SOCAR, the State Oil Company of Azerbaijan Republic, begun in 2015 and now counts five EPC contracts after the award of two new EPC contracts as part of the program for the modernization of the Heydar Aliyev Oil Refinery (HAOR) signed last week during the visit in Baku. Tecnimont, jointly with its sister company KT, has been already executing works at HAOR refinery since the award in 2018 of an EPC contract for a major project to upgrade the refinery in terms of both capacity and quality of finished product. During their visit to Baku, Chairman Di Amato and CEO Folgiero visited HAOR to talk to staff and see first-hand how work is proceeding.

Tecnimont and SOCAR’s strategic partnership is evolving in a context of close relations between Italy and Azerbaijan. Italy is Azerbaijan’s biggest trading partner and the Caucasian nation is an important energy supplier to Europe. Italian President Sergio Mattarella visited Azerbaijani’s capital Baku in 2018, when he and President Aliyev attended the inauguration ceremony of SOCAR’s new polypropylene plant built by Tecnimont jointly with KT-Kinetics Technology inside the Sumgayit petrochemical complex.

Tecnimont’s commitment to Azerbaijan goes beyond the value of its EPC contracts there. It embraces local suppliers and contributes to the country’s economic development through knowledge transfer and staff training in the core business. As technology-driven EPC contractor, Tecnimont technological solutions have brought innovation and development to the industry.

This approach results also in generating value for the local economy also through the supply chain, by working proactively with local suppliers and subcontractors thanks to a dedicated team in charge of all local market procurement with over 200 qualified vendors identified.

“In the process of industrial development, the strategic alliance between your company (Maire Tecnimont Group) and Azerbaijan will be highly welcomed,” said President Aliyev during the meeting “We need such a strong partner in order to help us to modernize, to go forward, and to train. This is really a sign of friendship.”