Azerbaijan-Uzbekistan economic partnership picks up speed, official says

Ramin Sharifov, director of the Azerbaijan-Uzbekistan Trade House in Baku, said bilateral relations are developing rapidly not only in the political and diplomatic spheres, but also in the economic sector.

In an interview with AZERTAC, he stressed that projects in trade, investment, industry, transport and logistics, agriculture and energy are increasingly linking the economic potential of the two countries.

He noted that one of the key indicators of Azerbaijani-Uzbek economic relations is bilateral trade. Trade turnover between the two countries increased more than threefold in 2025 compared with the previous year, reaching $795 million. In January-July of this year, bilateral trade exceeded $200 million.

These figures indicate that economic relations have entered a new stage compared with previous years.

“Investment is one of the important areas of economic relations between the two countries. In 2023, the Azerbaijan-Uzbekistan Investment Company was established with authorized capital of $500 million. The company serves as an important financing mechanism for promising projects in Azerbaijan and Uzbekistan, as well as in third countries,” the head of the Azerbaijan-Uzbekistan Trade House said.

Sharifov noted that the scale of investment cooperation is also reflected in the number of enterprises with Azerbaijani capital operating in Uzbekistan.

According to data for last year, 280 enterprises with Azerbaijani capital operated in Uzbekistan, including 58 joint ventures and 222 private enterprises. These companies operated in areas including trade, mechanical engineering, metalworking, finance, insurance, energy, services, food production and light industry.

Data as of July this year indicate that the involvement of Azerbaijani businesses in Uzbekistan has continued to expand. A total of 442 enterprises with Azerbaijani capital are now operating in the country.

“One of the notable features of the cooperation is that trade is no longer limited solely to the buying and selling of finished products, but is moving toward the implementation of joint production projects. In 2025, a number of documents were signed between Azerbaijan and Uzbekistan in the fields of industry, construction, manufacturing and infrastructure. These projects cover areas such as the production of dry construction mixes and drywall, the construction of residential buildings in the Uzbek city of Namangan, and the production of dairy products, household chemicals and high-voltage cables. This trend demonstrates a change in the structure of economic cooperation between the two countries. While the focus at the previous stage was primarily on trade, the goal now is to establish production chains that create added value,” Sharifov said.

The Trade House director emphasized that the geographical locations of Azerbaijan and Uzbekistan make their transport and logistics cooperation particularly important. Azerbaijan provides an important link between Central Asia and Europe across the Caspian Sea, while Uzbekistan, as one of the largest economies in Central Asia, has access to regional markets. In this context, the Middle Corridor, transportation across the Caspian Sea and new logistics opportunities have significant potential to increase bilateral trade.

The Uzbek side also considers the expansion of logistics capabilities and the export of Azerbaijani products to neighboring markets through the logistics infrastructure of Uzbekistan’s city of Termez as one of the promising areas.

By Jeyhun Aghazada