The relationship between Azerbaijan and Uzbekistan is beginning to acquire a logic of its own. The initial political warmth has evolved into something more substantial, with diplomacy, investment, infrastructure, and culture reinforcing each other. The recent visit illustrated just how much progress has been made along those lines, as the two countries are not just strengthening their bilateral relations, but creating a web of interests linking the South Caucasus to Central Asia.
Azerbaijani flags were unfurled in Tashkent one day prior to Azerbaijan's President Ilham Aliyev's arrival. The next element in the program was the performance of drones, an aerial dance routine that is usually reserved for Tashkent only when there is a visit that is considered truly important from the diplomatic standpoint, not just a diplomatic formality. Your browser doesn't support video.
Please download the file: video/mp4 Perhaps such a grandiose welcoming ceremony is not common for foreign visits of heads of state, and interpret the display of portraits and the drone performance as a reflection of the attitude towards the President of Azerbaijan. This is the diplomatic language that comes before, not after, the meat of the matter. Yesterday's state visit brought the core in quantity – the Treaty on Eternal Friendship, ten projects' openings and groundbreakings, a joint investment fund worth $500 million, of which $ 160 million has already been invested, a promise to reach trade turnover of $1 billion by 2030, and a dedicated Uzbekistan-Azerbaijan Caspian corridor with a single operator.
The Treaty on Eternal Friendship, signed by the two presidents in the residence of Kuksaroy, notes that the two countries develop relations based on eternal friendship, mutual trust, strategic partnership and alliance, and mutual support in the choice of development path and model, corresponding to the national reality of each country. Hikmet Hajiyev, Azerbaijani presidential assistant, set out the chain in the following way prior to the signing ceremony: "Since contacts between the presidents began in 2022, Azerbaijan-Uzbekistan relations entered a new stage. Relations evolved from strategic partnership to alliance, and now to eternal friendship.
This is a first in Azerbaijan's diplomatic practice." In fact, the wording – "eternal friendship" – instead of the usual "strategic partnership" or "allied relations" is the highest rank of bilateral treaty vocabulary of both countries, which Azerbaijan has never applied before. It is the particular bilateral structure that provides the treaty with its substance. Within just five years, the number of mutual trade operations has grown three times, whereas the whole investment portfolio of joint projects already exceeds $5 billion.
It is not an estimate but an actual investment portfolio, of which the $160 million invested in joint investment funds make up the formal part only. The amount of capital invested in the infrastructure projects related to tourism only, namely the Sea Breeze Uzbekistan resort and the Baku City residence whose inaugurations took place yesterday, is estimated at several hundred million dollars of private investments of Azerbaijan into the economy of Uzbekistan. Azerbaijani leader noted this during the Supreme Interstate Council meeting: "For Uzbekistan's tourism sector alone, $5 billion in investment is planned.
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