BAKU, Azerbaijan, September 2. Azerbaijan’s relations with the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) have entered a new stage in recent years. Baku is now attracting attention not only as an important actor in the South Caucasus, but also as a country playing an important role in connecting Central Asia, China and Europe. President Ilham Aliyev’s participation in the SCO Plus meeting in Bishkek once again demonstrated the growing importance of this cooperation, political analyst Azer Garayev told Trend.
“One of the main factors determining Azerbaijan’s importance for the SCO is its advantageous geographical location. The country has access to Central Asia through the Caspian Sea, Türkiye and Europe via the Caucasus, and the Middle East in the southern direction. This feature makes Azerbaijan an important transportation link connecting various economic spaces across Eurasia.
In this regard, the Middle Corridor plays a particularly important role. Baku is one of the main transit hubs for delivering cargo from China and Central Asia to Azerbaijan via the Caspian Sea and then to Europe through Georgia and Türkiye. The Port of Baku at Alat, the Baku-Tbilisi-Kars railway and the country’s extensive road and railway infrastructure increase the capacity of this route,” he said.
According to him, the importance of these routes for SCO countries is not limited to accelerating trade.
“The creation of alternative and reliable transportation routes is gaining increasing strategic importance in the global logistics system. In this regard, Azerbaijan is becoming one of the important platforms that SCO countries can use to develop East-West connections,” the political analyst said.
Garayev noted that the rapid development of Azerbaijan’s relations with Central Asian countries is also creating additional opportunities in this process.
“Baku is expanding cooperation with Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan and other countries in the region in the fields of transportation, energy, trade and investment. The Caspian Sea is one of the main geographical bridges underpinning these ties.
President Ilham Aliyev’s speech in Bishkek also demonstrated the broader framework of Azerbaijan’s approach to regional processes. The head of state emphasized that the long-standing conflict in Azerbaijan-Armenia relations has ended and that the South Caucasus is becoming a zone of peace. This process is also creating new opportunities for the opening of transportation links,” he said.
The political analyst emphasized that Azerbaijan has already begun supplying oil products to Armenia and providing transit for cargo from third countries.
“At the same time, Baku is working to increase mutual trade with Armenia, expand the range of products and establish new overland transportation links. This could further strengthen the role of the South Caucasus in the regional trade map in the future.
The Zangezur direction is also of particular importance here. The establishment of new transportation links could expand the capabilities of the Middle Corridor and provide more efficient access for cargo arriving from Central Asia to markets in Türkiye and Europe. Thus, Azerbaijan is not only a participant in existing transit routes, but also an active player in shaping the future transportation architecture of Eurasia,” Garayev said.
According to him, Azerbaijan’s importance for the SCO is also growing in the energy sector, alongside transportation.
“The delivery of energy resources from the Caspian region to global markets, cooperation on electricity and renewable energy projects, as well as the development of energy connections with Central Asia are creating new areas of cooperation between Baku and SCO countries.
In this sense, Azerbaijan’s rapprochement with the SCO space is not a one-sided process. Baku is strengthening its position as a strategic partner expanding access to Europe for the organization’s member and partner countries, and as a country playing an important role for the SCO as a transportation and energy link across Eurasia.
The SCO Plus meeting in Bishkek also showed that Azerbaijan’s relations with the organization are not limited to political dialogue. Mutual interests in transportation, trade, energy and regional security are steadily increasing Baku’s importance within the SCO space. Azerbaijan’s main advantage is its ability to transform its geographical position into tangible economic and transportation projects,” the political analyst added.
