BAKU, Azerbaijan, August 21. Uzbekistan and
Azerbaijan have significantly accelerated the implementation of
previously reached agreements in recent weeks, turning their
political alliance into concrete trade, investment and regional
projects.
Recent contacts between Baku and Tashkent show that the current
momentum goes well beyond high-level meetings. In August, the two
sides have simultaneously advanced new trade targets, prepared an
interregional forum, discussed industrial and investment projects,
expanded cooperation in technology and security, and stepped up
media and regional ties.
The economy remains one of the main drivers of this process.
According to Uzbekistan’s Ministry of Investment, Industry and
Trade, trade turnover with Azerbaijan reached $307.3 million in
2025, up 14.6%. In January-June 2026, trade amounted to $170.3
million, 30.8% higher than in the same period a year earlier.
Tashkent and Baku have now set a longer-term target of raising
bilateral trade to $1 billion by 2030. A dedicated program and
roadmap are being prepared to implement the agreements reached
toward this goal.
Significantly, this target is being pursued alongside other
areas of cooperation. The fourth Uzbekistan-Azerbaijan
Interregional Forum will be held in Tashkent on August 22, with the
aim of expanding direct contacts between the countries’ regions and
business communities and helping launch new trade and investment
projects.
The interregional dimension has become one of the most visible
elements of the current agenda. The presidents of Azerbaijan and
Uzbekistan had previously agreed to place greater emphasis on
cooperation between their regions, and that commitment is now being
translated into practical initiatives.
During a 2024 press statement in Tashkent alongside President
Ilham Aliyev, Uzbek President Shavkat Mirziyoyev stressed that the
two countries were not limiting themselves to political
declarations. “We don't just talk; we work meticulously in every
direction. Our ministries and agencies have also embraced the
expectation that we must fulfill everything we plan with
Azerbaijan,” he said.
The current momentum reflects that approach. On August 19,
another round of political consultations between the foreign
ministries of the two countries was held in Tashkent. Deputy
Foreign Ministers Bobur Usmanov and Samir Sharifov discussed the
state and prospects of bilateral relations within the framework of
strategic partnership and alliance. The talks also covered trade
and investment, industry, transport, logistics, energy and culture.
Uzbekistan’s Foreign Ministry emphasized the need to bring
practical cooperation to a qualitatively new level and make maximum
use of the existing potential to expand trade.
The economic agenda continued the following day at the level of
the relevant ministry. Uzbekistan’s Minister of Investment,
Industry and Trade Laziz Kudratov and Azerbaijan’s Ambassador
Rashad Mammadov discussed documents aimed at expanding economic
ties, advancing investment initiatives and strengthening
interregional cooperation. Investment remains one of the key
instruments. The Azerbaijan-Uzbekistan Investment Company has $500
million in capital and focuses on projects in industry, trade,
transport, construction, agriculture and services. More than 440
enterprises with Azerbaijani capital are already operating in
Uzbekistan.
At the same time, cooperation is increasingly taking the form of
industrial integration. A good example is Tashkent’s Technopark,
which comprises seven production facilities and is implementing 18
projects with a combined value of $465 million. The enterprise
manufactures a broad range of industrial and consumer products,
from refrigerators and elevators to pumps, radiators, copper pipes
and climate-control equipment.
Igor Em, an export specialist at Technopark, told Azerbaijani
media representatives during a press tour of Uzbekistan that the
company already exports between 12,000 and 15,000 steel panel
radiators to Azerbaijan each year. The sides are now negotiating
supplies of elevator equipment, escalators and climate-control
systems. “We have significant potential and a strong desire to
cooperate with Azerbaijan. We will do everything we can on our side
to make that happen,” he said.
Projects like these could become an important source of further
trade growth. Reaching the $1 billion target will require not only
higher volumes of existing exports but also a broader range of
goods, new industrial linkages and greater access for companies
from both countries to each other’s markets.
Another fast-growing area is the digital economy. During the
Azerbaijani media press tour in Uzbekistan, the delegation visited
IT Park Uzbekistan, where they were briefed on the country’s
technology, startup and digital services ecosystem. According to IT
Park, the organization works with companies from 104 countries,
including Azerbaijan. The ecosystem brings together around 3,800
technology companies, while Uzbek IT firms export digital services
to more than 100 countries. This provides a foundation for
expanding cooperation beyond trade in physical goods into digital
services, startups, workforce development and investment.
The press tour itself, involving 20 representatives of leading
Azerbaijani media outlets, has also become part of the broader
expansion of bilateral ties. On August 18, the journalists visited
the Media Content Production Center under the Administration of the
President of Uzbekistan, where they discussed joint media projects,
professional exchanges and the development of shared information
content. Uzbekistan also invited Azerbaijani representatives to
participate in Tashkent Content Market 2027, which is expected to
bring together professionals from the film, television, animation
and digital media industries from more than 50 countries. The
humanitarian dimension of bilateral relations is therefore
increasingly being reinforced by concrete professional ties.
Security is another area of cooperation. On August 20,
Uzbekistan’s Interior Minister Aziz Tashpulatov met with
Azerbaijani Ambassador Rashad Mammadov. The sides discussed the
exchange of experience in combating crime, terrorism and extremism,
transnational organized crime, drug trafficking and cybercrime.
This suggests that the allied relationship is gradually developing
into a broader institutional framework covering not only the
economy but also public security.
The significance of the bilateral partnership is also growing in
the regional context. Following Azerbaijan’s accession as a full
participant in the Consultative Meetings of the Heads of State of
Central Asia, Baku and Tashkent gained an additional platform for
coordinating their approaches. At the recent informal Central
Asia-Azerbaijan Consultative Meeting in Cholpon-Ata, Kyrgyzstan,
President Shavkat Mirziyoyev said: “Azerbaijan's accession to the
Central Asian countries' consultative meetings format takes
cooperation to a qualitatively new macro-regional
level.”
This is particularly important for Azerbaijan and Uzbekistan
given the growing importance of transport connectivity. Freight
traffic between the two countries increased by 28.3% in 2025 and by
a further 88% in the first quarter of 2026. The sides are
discussing the creation of a joint trans-Caspian cargo fleet and a
logistics hub near the Port of Baku, which could improve
Uzbekistan’s access to European markets. “Today, the region of
Central Asia and the South Caucasus, along with the Caspian Sea, is
turning into a single geopolitical region, and positive
developments in our regions largely depend on effective cooperation
between Azerbaijan and Uzbekistan,” President Ilham Aliyev said in
a 2024 press statement in Tashkent.
This work is also supported by regular high-level political
dialogue. On May 18, 2026, President Ilham Aliyev met with
President Shavkat Mirziyoyev in Baku on the sidelines of the 13th
session of the World Urban Forum. Aliyev noted that Mirziyoyev’s
participation in the forum demonstrated the brotherly and friendly
relations between the two states and their peoples. The sides also
emphasized that projects discussed during previous meetings between
the leaders were being successfully implemented. Particular
attention was paid to the construction of Uzbekistan Park in Baku.
Mirziyoyev, meanwhile, highlighted the large-scale transformation
taking place in Azerbaijan, including the reconstruction of cities
and villages in Karabakh. For bilateral relations, the practical
nature of this support is also significant.
Aliyev highlighted Uzbekistan’s contribution to the
reconstruction of Karabakh, specifically noting the Mirza Ulugbek
School No. 1 built by Uzbekistan in Fuzuli. He described it as “the
first gift in the process of rebuilding Karabakh” and a symbol of
brotherhood, support and solidarity between the two countries.
During the May meeting, the leaders also reviewed economic projects
being implemented under their instructions, including cooperation
in energy, mining, agriculture, machinery, pharmaceuticals and
other sectors.
Against this backdrop, Baku-Tashkent relations are emerging as
one of the practical channels connecting the two regions. Trade
generates demand, investment enables production, transport opens
markets, and political coordination creates the conditions for
long-term projects. Ultimately, the current momentum shows that
Uzbekistan-Azerbaijan relations are developing across several
interconnected tracks, with each reinforcing the others. Political
alliance has created a foundation of trust, while the work of
governments, regions and businesses is giving that foundation
concrete substance.
If trade growth, investment activity, industrial cooperation and
transport links continue to strengthen, the $1 billion target for
2030 could prove to be not an endpoint but the next stage of deeper
economic integration. For Uzbekistan, this means broader access to
the Caspian and European markets; for Azerbaijan, stronger economic
ties with Central Asia; and for both countries, new opportunities
to develop joint projects and enter third-country markets. This is
why the marked acceleration of bilateral activity in recent months
matters beyond the relationship itself. It is helping build a
broader economic and transport link between Central Asia and the
South Caucasus while simultaneously deepening political, business
and people-to-people ties between the two countries.
