Azerbaijan put billions of dollars of prospective investment at the heart of its economic pitch as the second Azerbaijan International Investment Forum (AIIF) entered its final day in the capital, Baku, this week. Azerbaijan’s Minister of Economy Mikayil Jabbarov confirmed to Euronews that almost $11 billion (€9.7 billion) worth of business was agreed over the course of the two-day event. Of 26 contracts that have been executed in various fields ranging from AI to energy, from manufacturing to production,” Jabbarov said, adding that the new opportunities could come from abroad.
The new investment figure comes after more than $10 billion (roughly €8.8 billion) in investment agreements were signed at the inaugural forum in 2025, more than $7 billion (around €6.2 billion) of which related to the non-oil sector. At the 2026 event, companies represented across AIIF and the Azerbaijan Infrastructure Investment Dialogue managed a combined $30 trillion (approximately €26.4 trillion) in assets, according to Azerbaijan’s presidential administration. Among them were BlackRock, Global Infrastructure Partners, and Brookfield Asset Management – some of the biggest names in investment.
The breadth of the agreements reflects a bigger economic challenge for Azerbaijan: attracting international capital beyond the oil and gas industry that has driven much of the country’s economic development. In an address to the forum, President Ilham Aliyev said the non-oil sector accounted for 72% of GDP in 2025, while real non-oil GDP growth had averaged 5% annually since 2020. He said Azerbaijan’s investment strategy went beyond simply attracting capital, highlighting manufacturing, transport and logistics, renewable energy, digital technologies, agriculture, tourism and infrastructure among areas offering investment opportunities.
But the president reiterated that energy investments still dominated. "The contracts which actually led to the development in oil and gas sector signed 30 years ago still are absolutely untouched – not a single word was changed – and that was one of the factors to attract investors,” he told the audience during a closed-door session at the AIIF on Saturday. The investment push moves into a different league with the Azerbaijan Infrastructure Investment Dialogue, which was a closed-door event hosted by Azerbaijan’s sovereign wealth fund SOFAZ and BlackRock.
BlackRock manages $15.3 trillion (approximately €13.5 trillion) in assets, according to BlackRock’s official report in July this year, while GIP — which has operated within BlackRock since 2024 — manages around $170 billion (approximately €149.6 billion). According to the Central Bank of Azerbaijan, over $3 billion is the total volume of foreign direct investments (FDI) attracted to the economy in the first six months of 2026, marking a 13.8% year-on-year increase. It also states that the leading countries investing in Azerbaijan are the United Kingdom, Türkiye, Cyprus, Russia, and Iran.
The figure quoted for Azerbaijan actively exporting capital into foreign economies during the same period is over $5 billion (over €4 billion), with primary destinations being Italy, Türkiye, the UK, the UAE, and Georgia. There are a number of prominent business players in Azerbaijan’s circles that have built profiles which are clearly helping to elevate the country. Founder & Chairman of the Board of Sabah Investment Group, a diversified investment holding group with interests in multiple industries across the globe, told Euronews that the efforts made with marketing have made a key difference.
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