President of Azerbaijan, Ilham Aliyev, participated in the latest Consultative Meeting of Central Asian Heads of State. During the summit, the leaders of the Central Asian “five” approved several key documents, including the “Central Asia 2040” Regional Cooperation Development Concept. This document sets long-term goals for strengthening economic and political integration in the region.
Additionally, the summit participants endorsed the “Roadmap for Regional Cooperation Development for 2025-2027” and the “Action Plan for the Development of Industrial Cooperation among Central Asian States for 2025-2027.” These documents highlight Azerbaijan as a significant strategic partner, playing the role of a close ally in enhancing the economic and industrial capabilities of Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan, Kyrgyzstan, and Tajikistan.
It is worth noting that to date, nine summits and high-level meetings have been held in the “Central Asia Plus” format, underscoring the region’s growing significance in international politics and economics. Over the past two years, important summits involving key global powers have taken place, including “Central Asia – Russia” (Astana), “Central Asia – China” (Xi’an), “Central Asia – USA” (New York), “Central Asia – Germany” (Berlin), as well as two meetings between the leaders of Central Asia and the European Union (Astana, Cholpon-Ata). For the first time, summits were held in the formats “Central Asia – Arab Gulf States” (Jeddah) and “Central Asia – India” (online). The first “Central Asia – Japan” summit is expected to be held in Astana this year.
The cooperation format that unites Azerbaijan and Central Asia reflects not only geographical proximity—Azerbaijan’s location on the western shore of the Caspian Sea—but also confirms deeper connections. Baku, with significant influence in the Central Asian region, plays a key role in forming a unified socio-economic, geopolitical, and humanitarian space linking Azerbaijan with the five Central Asian states.
The high level of interaction between Azerbaijan and the Central Asian countries is convincingly demonstrated by the intensity of diplomatic activity. Over the past two years, President Ilham Aliyev has made sixteen visits to the region, underscoring his commitment to strengthening cooperation and developing strategic partnerships. In turn, the leaders of Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, and Uzbekistan have made a total of fifteen official visits to Azerbaijan.
According to President Ilham Aliyev, “Azerbaijan and the Central Asian countries represent a single historical, cultural, and geopolitical space, which is gaining increasing strategic importance. Our peoples are united by centuries-old history, culture, religion, and shared values.” These words emphasize not only the cultural and historical closeness but also the growing significance of the region in global politics and the aspiration to create strong foundations for long-term cooperation.
What is the connection between “Azerbaijan – Central Asia”?
Transit Potential
Azerbaijan’s transport capabilities and economic resources provide the Central Asian “five” (Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan) with an additional impetus for development. Azerbaijan plays a key role as a transit hub, providing Central Asia with access to global markets, especially in the Western Hemisphere. Given the limited number of alternative routes, particularly through congested Russian ports, Azerbaijan becomes an essential “gateway” for the export and import of goods via the Black and Mediterranean Seas.
Azerbaijan’s infrastructure, including railways, highways, and seaports, enhances the region’s transport connectivity. A crucial element in integrating and cooperating with Western Eurasia is the Baku-Tbilisi-Kars railway, which, after modernization, has increased its annual capacity from one to five million tons. This expands trade and logistics opportunities, making routes through Azerbaijan even more attractive.
Azerbaijan is also actively developing its port capacities, further enhancing the region’s transit potential. Specifically, the capacity of the Alat trading port has been increased from 15 to 25 million tons. This port plays a crucial role in the “Middle Corridor” initiative, ensuring efficient management of cargo flows and reducing delivery times from sender to recipient.
Azerbaijan actively participates in international transport initiatives, such as the “China – Kyrgyzstan – Uzbekistan – Turkmenistan – Caspian Sea – Azerbaijan” route. The country is also interested in accelerating the construction of the “China – Kyrgyzstan – Uzbekistan” railway and is ready to work together in this direction.
Azerbaijan Sets the Caspian-Central Asian Economic Connectivity
Economic interaction between Azerbaijan and the Central Asian states is becoming increasingly significant, creating a solid foundation for further growth and integration. The mutual influence of these countries is strengthened by a significant increase in trade turnover and the development of joint investment projects.
By the end of 2023, Azerbaijan’s trade turnover with the Central Asian countries increased significantly, exceeding 1.605 billion dollars. This growth underscores the deepening economic ties between the regions:
- Azerbaijan – Turkmenistan: $773.9 million, mainly from the import of Turkmen gas.
- Azerbaijan – Kazakhstan: $529.4 million.
- Azerbaijan – Uzbekistan: $230 million.
- Azerbaijan – Kyrgyzstan: $64.9 million, a sixfold increase.
- Azerbaijan – Tajikistan: around $7 million, a 1.5 times increase.
An important element of economic integration is the creation of three investment funds with Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, and Kyrgyzstan. These funds of various scales contribute to the development of joint projects and the strengthening of economic ties between the countries. The parties have preliminarily agreed on mutual investments totaling over one billion dollars by 2026, demonstrating a long-term commitment to cooperation.
Within these agreements, several significant industrial cooperation projects have been launched. In the automotive industry, agriculture, and metallurgy, promising areas have emerged: in collaboration with Uzbekistan, a cotton cluster is being created to strengthen the agricultural sector of both countries, while cooperation with Tajikistan focuses on aluminum production, including the supply of alumina from Azerbaijan.
Access to Renewable Energy Technologies
On the eve of the Astana summit, Deputy Minister of Energy of Azerbaijan Orkhan Zeynalov reported that high-level initiatives, including the Central Asia and Azerbaijan Energy Investment Forum, are planned within COP29.
Currently, the next steps are being discussed for creating a “green energy” corridor “Azerbaijan – Central Asia – Europe” along the Caspian and Black Sea beds. Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, and Uzbekistan have agreed on a Strategic Partnership Agreement in “green energy” and approved the technical task for the project’s feasibility study. The Italian company CESI was chosen to develop the feasibility study, and an agreement was reached to establish a joint venture with the participation of national energy companies. It is worth noting that in May of this year, a “Memorandum of Cooperation on the Integration of Energy Systems of Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, and Uzbekistan” was signed.
Azerbaijan as a Leader of the Turkic World
The Turkic integration contexts set by Azerbaijan not only align Turkey’s interests with the overall regional agenda but also, in a certain sense, shape and define Turkish approaches to the region, considering that Baku plays a leading role in the Organization of Turkic States (OTS). As a result, there is a growing recognition in the region of the benefits of cooperation with Azerbaijan. Moreover, demonstrating solidarity with Baku is becoming an important trend throughout the CIS/EAEU space—from Russia and Belarus to Tajikistan.
In 2023, a secondary school named after Mirza Ulugh Beg was opened in the city of Fizuli with financial support from Uzbekistan, and in 2024, a Children’s Creativity Center named after Kurmangazy was established with the assistance and funds from Kazakhstan. This year, a foundation-laying ceremony for a secondary school funded by Kyrgyzstan took place in the Aghdam region. These are just a few of the most well-known examples.
Coordination in Security Matters
In July of this year, the Armed Forces of Azerbaijan participated in the “Birlik-2024” operational-tactical command-staff exercises held on the Kazakh coast of the Caspian Sea. Additionally, the training of cadets from Central Asian countries in Azerbaijani military educational institutions continues, and there is ongoing interaction between the region’s defense ministries and Azerbaijan’s military department. Speaking at the summit, Uzbekistan’s President Shavkat Mirziyoyev proposed developing a new strategic document—the “Concept for Ensuring Regional Security and Stability,” which would cover all aspects of mutual military support and cooperation in the “5+ Azerbaijan” format.
In conclusion, a few words about the vision for Central Asia’s future, presented in the programmatic article by Kazakhstan’s President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev, “Central Asia’s Renaissance: Towards Sustainable Development and Prosperity.”
Tokayev outlines a regional integration strategy across six directions. It is noteworthy that the tasks and formulations are more distinct and practical compared to similar articles written by former President Nursultan Nazarbayev ten to fifteen years ago. The situation in the region has changed significantly since then, and the economic dynamics (investments and trade) have increased by tens of percent. This is naturally reflected in the potential of Central Asian countries. Specifically, Kazakhstan plans to double its economy by 2029, reaching $450 billion.
Moreover, a second leading state has emerged in Central Asia—Shavkat Mirziyoyev’s Uzbekistan. President Tokayev does not state this explicitly but makes it clear that the primary “pull factor” in regional development is the economic interaction between Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan.
Looking at the figures over the past five years (2018–2023), the mutual trade of Central Asian states has grown from $5.7 to $11 billion (by the end of 2023, the internal trade turnover of the “five” increased by almost 25 percent). However, half of this flow is accounted for by trade between Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan, which amounted to five billion dollars in 2022. However, in 2023, there was a decline to $4.4 billion due to a decrease in the export of passenger cars from Kazakhstan to Uzbekistan. However, in the same year, rail freight between Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan exceeded 31 million tons, increasing by 17.2 percent compared to the previous year.
President Tokayev, of course, understands that the lion’s share of regional integration success is tied to Kazakhstan’s interaction with Russia. Trade in local products, as well as some “crisis” transit after February 2022, primarily goes to the Russian Federation, indicating Russia’s desire to create all the conditions for strengthening the Central Asian “five.” In contrast, China does not have such ambitions or goals for integrating the Central Asian region—Beijing is content to increase its economic presence in the region.
The sequence of integration formats and organizations listed by Tokayev, which create a favorable environment for Central Asian countries, is noteworthy—strengthening their status as peaceful states, the “five” actively promote their ideas and projects within multilateral structures, being founders and members of such successful and influential organizations as the CIS, SCO, CICA, ECO, EAEU, and OTS.
Moving Towards Full Connectivity
A significant part of the socio-economic and trade interaction in Central Asia is formed within the CIS/EAEU space. Therefore, many regional development issues are closely coordinated within Eurasian structures. In particular, the Eurasian Economic Commission and the CIS Executive Committee are drafting a joint plan for the development of transport corridors within the connected integration associations by 2030. Within this economic space, intersections and the formation of cargo flows occur along the routes of the North-South ITC, the “Middle Corridor,” and other regional projects.
During the Central Asian leaders’ summit, several documents were signed to facilitate the flow of products produced in the region, including on the unification of regulations, acceleration of customs digitization, and phytosanitary procedures, and ensuring mutual access to public procurement.
It is gratifying to note that Azerbaijan plays a key role in all these processes and participates directly through its companies and projects.
