BAKU, Azerbaijan, September 17. Azerbaijan’s
hosting of international events in recent years represents a
process that goes far beyond a mere chronology of individual
conferences and meetings. Baku has increasingly become a venue
where diverse political stances, regional interests, and global
challenges are discussed at the same table. In this regard, Baku’s
ability to bring together political, economic, security,
humanitarian, cultural, and climate-related topics within a single
diplomatic framework has gradually expanded its role as an
international platform.
This landscape didn’t take shape in one day. Over many years,
Azerbaijan has established itself as a venue open to dialogue by
hosting international events of varying scales. It has served as a
hub for discussions on a wide range of topics—from energy and
transport issues to intercultural and interfaith dialogue, and from
multilateral diplomacy to media and information agendas.
Azerbaijan’s chairmanship of the Non-Aligned Movement in 2019
enabled this trajectory to extend into a broader political arena.
During that period, the country positioned itself not merely as a
regional player, but as an active participant in multilateral
platforms addressing the agendas of developing nations and the
Global South. The subsequent inclusion of the climate agenda in the
map of international events gave new substance to this process.
Azerbaijan’s hosting of COP29 in 2024 marked one of the largest
international events the country has ever held, in terms of both
scale and the geographical diversity of participants. Within the
framework of COP29—which saw representation from 96
countries—issues such as climate finance, carbon markets,
adaptation, and the needs of developing nations became central
themes of global negotiations. One of the conference's outcomes was
an agreement establishing a core annual financial target of $300
billion for developing countries by 2035, alongside a goal to
increase broader financial flows to $1.3 trillion annually. The
significance of COP29 for Azerbaijan extends beyond the mere scale
of the event. The country took on the role of keeping global
actors—who held divergent views—at the negotiating table and
guiding them toward common ground. Baku became a platform for
negotiations on an agenda as complex as climate diplomacy—one
directly intertwined with finance, development, energy, and
geopolitics.
Baku stands not merely as a capital where the problems of a
specific region are discussed, but as a platform that brings
together diverse geographies and agendas. One of the clearest
examples of this is the series of Global Media Forums held in
Shusha in recent years. The 4th Shusha Global Media Forum, held in
July 2026, brought together 160 participants from 53 countries,
including representatives from international media outlets and
organizations.
The choice of Shusha isn't a coincidence. Alongside Baku, Shusha
is becoming part of Azerbaijan’s landscape for international
dialogue. While Baku serves primarily as a venue for political,
economic, and global institutional agendas, Shusha is emerging as a
symbolic setting for discussions on peace, media, culture, and
post-conflict realities. Thus, geography itself conveys a message
within Azerbaijan’s policy on international events; the country
presents various topics to international audiences not only in its
capital but also in diverse cities and locations across the nation.
This sequence of events shouldn’t be viewed merely as a crowded
schedule. On the contrary, what stands out is the convergence of
various levels of cooperation within the Turkic world in a single
location.
The series of international conferences organized by the
Organization of Turkic States from September 13 to 18 of this year
shouldn't be regarded just as a matter of a busy calendar. Baku has
become a hub that brings together various channels of political,
security, expert, and humanitarian dialogue within a single
organizational framework.
In short, the aim here goes beyond merely "bringing the world to
Baku." A more critical objective is to interconnect diverse
agendas. Security and humanitarian issues, climate and development,
energy and the green transition, media and the promotion of peace
and trust, and the integration of the Turkic world alongside expert
diplomacy—these are no longer isolated topics. In modern
international relations, these areas are becoming increasingly
intertwined, and Azerbaijan leverages precisely these intersections
in its approach to hosting events. The chronicle of international
events held in Azerbaijan is, in fact, a record of the broader
diplomatic strategy the country has shaped in recent years. At the
heart of this strategy lies a single concept: uniting diverse
geographies, interests, perspectives, and agendas within a shared
forum for discussion.
