BAKU, Azerbaijan, September 11. The State Oil
Fund of Azerbaijan (SOFAZ) is expanding its cooperation with
leading Asian investment institutions.


This was announced in a statement released by SOFAZ following a
business visit of the delegation, led by CEO Israfil Mammadov, to
China from September 6 through 11.


According to the information, the visit focused on strengthening
investment cooperation with China and expand opportunities for
mutually beneficial partnerships.


During the visit, the delegation held meetings with
representatives from various international financial institutions,
investment companies, and government agencies, and participated in
major regional events.


The main part of the visit took place within the framework of
the China International Fair for Investment and Trade (CIFIT) held
in Xiamen. SOFAZ representatives attended the fair's opening
ceremony. Additionally, meetings were held with the Chairman and
CEO of CIC, Qingsong Zhang, and the CEO of Brookfield Asset
Management, Bruce Flatt. Then, Mammadov participated in a
roundtable chaired by Vice President of China Han Zheng. The event
was attended by senior officials from Chinese central and regional
government bodies, as well as heads of leading global corporations
and representatives of global companies from the energy, finance,
industrial, technology, healthcare, and consumer sectors.


Furthermore, Mammadov spoke at a panel discussion dedicated to
the China-ASEAN Joint Investment Council (CAJIC) during a session
titled "China's Outbound Investment." The discussion, which
involved leading sovereign investors from the region, focused on
opportunities to attract more investment to the area through joint
efforts and to strengthen capital exchange between China and ASEAN.
In his remarks, Mammadov emphasized that the Chinese and ASEAN
markets should be viewed as a unified economic ecosystem rather
than as separate entities.


According to him, for SOFAZ, cooperation with the region entails
not only allocating capital but also establishing reliable
partnerships and gaining deep market expertise. He also noted that
the fund's participation in this format holds strategic importance
for strengthening Azerbaijan's financial ties with Asian
markets.


During the visit, the SOFAZ delegation also expanded its ties
with Brookfield Asset Management, one of the world's leading
financial firms. The delegation participated in a forum organized
by Brookfield Asset Management in Hong Kong. The forum discussions
focused on the current state of global capital markets—including
investment prospects in credit, infrastructure, energy, real
estate, and private equity—and featured insights from leading
international institutional investors regarding emerging trends in
these sectors.


The outcomes of the visit demonstrate the continuous expansion
of SOFAZ’s investment relationships in the Asian region. Meetings
with CIC serve to further deepen the fund's established
institutional ties in this market, while its status as a founding
member of CAJIC contributes to SOFAZ securing a significant
position within the network of the region's leading sovereign
wealth funds.


At the same time, expanding cooperation with global
institutional investors such as Brookfield Asset Management
provides SOFAZ with direct insight into regional markets, reliable
partners, and access to new investment opportunities.


The visit also holds broader strategic significance for
Azerbaijan. The growing role of the Middle Corridor in
strengthening ties between Asia and Europe further elevates the
importance of Azerbaijan’s strategic position between the two
regions. Furthermore, the expansion of SOFAZ’s cooperation with
leading Asian investment institutions complements this physical
connectivity with financial linkages, binding Azerbaijan more
closely to Asia in both geographical and economic terms.







In an interview with Trend, Merlissa Trisno, Director of Funds and Capital
Partnerships at the Indonesia Investment Authority (INA),
highlighted SOFAZ's strategic role as one of the founding sovereign
investors in the Galaxy Orientis China-ASEAN Investment Platform
(CAIP).


"The State Oil Fund of Azerbaijan plays an important role as one
of the platform's founding sovereign investors. Its participation
demonstrates the shared commitment of three sovereign wealth funds
to support long-term investment and economic cooperation along one
of the world's fastest-growing development corridors," Trisno
said.


She said CAIP brings together the financial resources,
institutional expertise and global networks of the China Investment
Corporation (CIC), the Indonesia Investment Authority (INA) and
SOFAZ to finance high-quality investment projects across the
region.


"The platform aims to contribute to regional development by
combining long-term capital, institutional expertise and global
networks to support high-quality investment opportunities," she
said.


Trisno added that the platform has secured approximately $520
million in initial funding and is targeting a total of $1 billion,
with plans to attract additional institutional investors in the
future.


"We believe the platform will, over time, provide a strong
foundation for expanding economic and investment cooperation among
Indonesia, China, ASEAN countries, Azerbaijan and other partners,"
the INA official said.


Meanwhile, the strategic importance of SOFAZ's participation in
international investment platforms is also noteworthy. CGS
International Securities, the managing partner of the Galaxy
Orientis China-ASEAN Investment Platform (CAIP), said that the Fund
adds significant institutional value to the platform.


"SOFAZ brings to the CAIP a particular institutional
perspective. The fund has experience deploying long-horizon
sovereign capital across multiple geopolitical environments, and a
sophisticated approach to portfolio construction shaped by decades
of stewarding hydrocarbon-driven wealth," Group Head of Asset
Management, CGS International Securities, James Ong, said in an
interview with Trend.


According to him, at the same time, SOFAZ benefits from sitting
alongside CIC and INA — both institutions with mature
private-investment operations in Asia — and from access to the
institutional learning that comes from operating within a
multi-sovereign architecture.


"Sovereign collaboration of this kind is increasingly recognized
as a model that benefits every participating fund, not a
one-directional capital flow," Ong emphasized.