AIR Center

Rapidly growing interaction between Azerbaijan and Uzbekistan demonstrates that political rapprochement in the Caspian region transforms into economic integration. Formation of diplomatic, cultural and transport contacts, in recent years, has been complemented by such tools as investments, industry cooperation and business contacts, writes Yunis Gurbanov. Importance of this process is not limited to the bilateral…

Editor’s note: Huseyn Sultanli is an adviser at the Center of Analysis of International Relations and Multiculturalism (AIR Center). The views expressed are the author’s own and do not necessarily reflect those of News.Az. Any normalisation process between two states that involves leaving behind conflict, bloodshed and deadlock in favour of cooperation and interdependence requires…

On September 11 and 12, roughly 150 representatives of the diplomatic corps accredited in Baku, drawn from 58 countries and nine international organizations, including the European Union’s Special Representative for the South Caucasus, traveled to Azerbaijan’s Karabakh and East Zangezur regions. They visited Shusha, Khankendi, and historic sites including the Ganjasar and Khudavang monasteries. By…

Baku hosted the fifth Azerbaijan-Türkiye Energy Forum on September 11, bringing together Azerbaijan’s Energy Minister Parviz Shahbazov and Turkish Energy Minister Alparslan Bayraktar for a review of hydrocarbons, energy efficiency, the electricity market, renewables and mining under the two countries’ Joint Intergovernmental Commission on Economic Cooperation, a format that was launched in 2021. It was on the…

The article titled “The Unbearable Cost of Azerbaijan’s Territorial Integrity”, published on the Baku Research Institute website, or, more precisely, this piece of scribbling, can confidently be regarded as a repetition of the one-sided, biased and unfounded narratives that radical Armenian political and information circles have been circulating for many years. First and foremost, this…

The past few months have seen a new wave of information warfare against Azerbaijan by several Western media outlets. The Independent and The Guardian in the UK, the BBC’s Russian Service, and Poland’s TVP World (Eastern Express programme) have launched another “season” of their own Azerbaijan series, at a time when the information space concerning this…

Ambassador Farid Shafiyev is the Chairman, Center for Analysis of International Relations and Multiculturalism (AIR Center), in Baku, Azerbaijan. He contributed this op-ed to commonspace.eu As 27 September 2026 approaches, we will mark yet another anniversary of the Second Karabakh War. But today, after 6 years from the war, we are not only contemplating about this…

Executive Summary: During an August 23–24 state visit, Azerbaijan and Uzbekistan signed a Treaty on Eternal Friendship, expanded cooperation across multiple sectors, and adopted a program to increase bilateral trade to $1 billion by 2030. The visit followed Azerbaijan’s growing institutional integration with Central Asia, including its November 2025 admission as a full participant in…

Executive Summary: Baku and Bishkek elevated their relationship to an alliance at the end of July during a meeting between Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev and Kyrgyz President Sadyr Japarov in Cholpon-Ata, Kyrgyzstan. Azerbaijan and Kyrgyzstan’s strengthening relations are occurring alongside increased engagement between Azerbaijan and Central Asia as a whole through growing engagement in organizations…

Despite its status as the biggest example of regional integration, the European Union remains greatly affected by internal divisions. These continue to threaten the EU’s pursuit of strategic actorness, a complex process the primary aim of which is to establish Brussels as an autonomous decision-maker on the international stage. Divisions between member states are wide-ranging,…