Since the beginning of the second decade of the 21st century, Central Asia started to form a common agenda and shared positions on logistics, transportation, energy, security and foreign policy. The C5 format, which traditionally unites five Central Asian countries, is gradually transforming from being a consultation platform to discuss minor issues to an instrument for regional positioning with perspectives of becoming a union in the future. In this framework, the role of Azerbaijan, which is geographically located in the South Caucasus while in fact being pivotal in the Caspian-South Caucasus-Europe route, is becoming increasingly perceptible. For Kazakhstan, a key player in the Central Asian region, Azerbaijan\u2019s participation in C6 format is not coincidental: Astana consistently promotes the idea of \u200b\u200bCaspian cooperation and development of transcontinental transport corridors as well as multilateral diplomacy, in which the region is not the target of great power rivalry but rather shapes its own agenda.<\/p>\n
In order to understand the context within this process and Kazakhstan\u2019s view in this matter, it is important to highlight that Azerbaijan recently has become a crucial strategic partner for Astana: in the last five years, Kazakhstan\u2019s President Kassym-Zhomart Tokayev and Azerbaijan\u2019s President Ilham Aliyev have held at least five mutual governmental visits only in the context of bilateral relations. The intensity of the development of the relations between two countries are noticeable: joint military trainings together with other Turkic states, progress in terms of trade and increased importance of the Middle Corridor in the context of geopolitical tensions in the world are connecting interests of both countries, enlarging their perspectives for the cooperation in the future. Alongside with the enhanced cruciality of the Organization of Turkic States, which has a earned new status with its initial positioning as Turkic Council until the 8th Summit of OTS in Istanbul at 2021<\/a>, as well as congratulation and recognition by Tokayev on restoration of territorial integrity of Azerbaijan over Karabakh, these factors have definitely taken Kazakhstan and Azerbaijan\u2019s bilateral relations to a relatively high level, and now the two countries are committed to start a new era of cooperation and mutual development thanks to Azerbaijan\u2019s re-orientation as a subject to Central Asia\u2019s regionalistic agenda. As a result of strong relations with Kazakhstan as well as with other Central Asian countries, together with the cruciality of better multisector interconnectivity,\u00a0 in the 7th Consultative Meeting in Tashkent<\/a> in November 2025 Azerbaijan joined the Consultative Meeting of Heads of State of Central Asia as a full participant, which means that Azerbaijan has become the first country geographically located out of the Central Asian region to be included in this high-level regional forum.<\/p>\n Does it mean that Azerbaijan would be considered as part of Central Asia? The short answer would be \u201cno\u201d from both from Azerbaijani and Kazakhstani sides, as joining this platform does not necessarily imply that Azerbaijan\u2019s status from the perspective of geographical regionalism will completely change with its alignment to the C6. Kazakhstan traditionally conducts a variety of agreements and joint platforms from a pragmatic approach, and, in the current global situation, Azerbaijan is being perceived as a highly strategic partner. At the same time, Central Asian countries were trying to build their own regional union for decades right after the collapse of the Soviet Union, and the majority of discussions regarding this matter were initiated by Nursultan Nazarbayev, the first President of Kazakhstan, but the format he was proposing never materialized. This process eventually happened naturally via the perception of the region as a united platform since the meeting of all Central Asian countries with Japan in 2004<\/a>. Right now, the structure of the C6 with a new member will appear to be a multilayered structure, where Azerbaijan is considered as a natural ally, a brother country in terms of Turkic and post-Soviet background, a member of the OTS, and now also as a participant in Central Asian affairs within the C6. In Astana, there is quite awareness that Azerbaijan will not actively participate in all of the discussion within C6, and geographical difference still matters. However, there is a clear understanding that in other subjects Azerbaijan\u2019s position is important, and mutual interests dominate over the differences.<\/p>\n Kazakhstan positively perceives the alignment of Azerbaijan to the C5 platform, mainly due to the expanded opportunities in terms of infrastructure and logistics.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n Astana needs more alternatives in terms of logistics to European countries, as well as the global market in general, and, taking into consideration that trade routes through Iran and Russia at the moment are not accessible due to sanctions and tensions in both of the regions, Azerbaijan is providing an alternative for the transportation of goods. It is necessary for Kazakhstan to have alternatives in strategic partnership due to the multivectoral policy of the country, where the leadership is trying to avoid dependency from any other power by differentiating its partners. One of the obstacles in this case would be bandwidth of the Caspian route through Azerbaijan: the port of Alat, despite being a major logistics hub in Eurasia, still needs to strengthen its capacity in order to support increased trans-Caspian trade since alternative ports are not maintaining large amounts of goods in their current capacities either. This issue might be overcome through the expansion of hubs in Aktau, Kazakhstan, and shorten the expenditures for transportation to 50%, also with the development of oil exports through the Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan (BTC) pipeline.<\/p>\n