The Times of Central Asia: US strengthens engagement with Azerbaijan

The visit of U.S. Senator Steve Daines, a member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee and Chairman of the Subcommittee on Europe and Regional Security Cooperation, to Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, and Turkmenistan has reinforced Washington's emerging strategy of strengthening ties with the South Caucasus and Central Asia, an article by The Times of Central Asia writes.

The publication notes that in Baku, Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev and Senator Steve Daines discussed Azerbaijan's geopolitical role, regional peace, and the importance of the Trump Route for International Peace and Prosperity (TRIPP) for regional transport connectivity. Separate meetings with Foreign Minister Jeyhun Bayramov and Economy Minister Mikayil Jabbarov broadened the agenda to include economic cooperation. In addition, during his talks in Baku, the senator discussed the Middle Corridor, energy, transportation, digital development, as well as the extraction and processing of critical minerals.

"The U.S.–Azerbaijan Strategic Partnership Charter, signed in February, places the Middle Corridor alongside energy, trade, transit, digital connectivity, and critical-mineral movement. It identifies Azerbaijan as an energy, transport, trade, and logistics hub for the Caspian region," the article states.

The author emphasises that the United States and Azerbaijan held their first Economic Dialogue in June, during which they discussed a broad range of issues.

Azerbaijan's role is also underpinned by physical infrastructure that is already operational. The existing Middle Corridor crosses Kazakhstan and the Caspian Sea, then passes through Azerbaijan and Georgia before continuing toward Türkiye or Europe via the Black Sea. At Alat, located 70 kilometres south of Baku, the port handled 7.6 million tonnes of cargo in 2024. Its current annual capacity stands at 15 million tonnes and 100,000 TEU, while the planned second phase of expansion will increase capacity to 25 million tonnes and 500,000 TEU.

Western routes are already transporting part of the oil exported from Kazakhstan and Turkmenistan to Europe via Azerbaijan, while the Trans Adriatic Pipeline (TAP) has been delivering natural gas to Europe since late 2020.

The TRIPP project would add a route through southern Armenia toward Nakhchivan, connecting it to the existing Azerbaijan–Georgia–Türkiye transport network. The immediate political objective is to expand the existing corridors and complete the remaining missing links within a transportation system that is already operational.

The publication highlights the important role of all three countries: Kazakhstan provides cargo volumes and substantial mineral resources; Turkmenistan contributes significant energy potential; and Azerbaijan serves as the western Caspian transport hub, with well-developed infrastructure for onward transit and the region's most advanced institutional framework.

"Daines’s tour gave visible momentum to an emerging U.S. strategy for connecting Central Asia and the South Caucasus, consistent with the Trump administration’s emphasis on commercially grounded partnerships. Its institutional and financial architecture remains incomplete, but the direction is increasingly clear," the author concludes.

In the author's view, U.S. relations with Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, and Turkmenistan are advancing through bilateral agreements, strategic dialogues, trade arrangements, and high-level official visits.

"Regional stability acquires a commercial meaning here: infrastructure and investment require politically usable routes, predictable transit arrangements, and sustained cooperation across the Caspian Sea and the South Caucasus," the article emphasises.