Azerbaijan and Kazakhstan sign action plan for 2025–2026

Following a meeting between Azerbaijani Foreign Minister Jeyhun Bayramov and Kazakhstan Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Murat Nursultan Nazarbayev in Astana on Tuesday, an action plan for 2025–2026 was signed. The two sides also discussed increased bilateral cooperation in a number of sectors.

During the one-on-one meeting on Tuesday, Bayramov and Nazarbayev expressed satisfaction with current Azerbaijan–Kazakhstan relations. They cited the visits of Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev to Astana and Kazakh President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev to Baku in 2024 as ‘an indicator of the high level of relations’ between the two states.

According to Bayramov, a main priority of Azerbaijani foreign policy is to strengthen relations with Central Asian countries, including Kazakhstan, as well as developing cooperation with regional organisations such as the Organisation of Turkic States, the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation, and the Conference on Interaction and Confidence Building Measures in Asia.

Bayramov also discussed expanding cooperation within the framework of the International Trans-Caspian Transport Route as well as the ‘Fiber-optic Cable Highway along the Bottom of the Caspian Sea’ project, a key part of the Digital Silk Road project intended to be built between Baku and Aktau.

Following the meeting, Bayramov spoke to journalists, during which he announced that ‘the creation of a Kazakhstan–Azerbaijan Investment Fund, with an initial capital of $300 million’, would make a ‘significant contribution to the implementation of joint investment projects between our countries’.

He noted that in 2024, the volume of bilateral trade between Azerbaijan and Kazakhstan exceeded $500 million.

Bayramov also made statements regarding the ongoing peace negotiations between Armenia and Azerbaijan, recalling the provision of a platform for negotiations between the two states by Kazakhstan in May 2024.

While highlighting the ‘great distance covered towards the normalisation of interstate relations between Azerbaijan and Armenia and the signing of a final peace agreement’, Bayramov once again brought up the alleged existence of territorial claims against Azerbaijan in the Armenian constitution. He also claimed that Armenia was rapidly rearming itself and that it had a tendency towards revanchism, citing them as the ‘biggest obstacles to the peace process’.

Finally, Bayramov expressed his gratitude for the construction of the Kurmangazy Children’s Creativity Centre in Fuzuli, which Azerbaijan recaptured during the 2020 Nagorno-Karabakh War.

While in Astana, Bayramov also met with Tokayev, whom he thanked for the support provided in connection to the Azerbaijan Airlines crash in Aktau in December 2024.

In turn, Tokayev called Azerbaijan a ‘reliable strategic partner and ally’.

Dozens killed after Azerbaijan Airlines flight from Baku to Grozny crashes in Kazakhstan

The flight was reportedly carrying 67 passengers and crew.

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