Azerbaijan and Uzbekistan are increasingly demonstrating what a modern regional economic partnership can look like: not simply the exchange of goods, but the movement of capital, technology, energy and infrastructure across borders. The growing relationship between Baku and Tashkent is particularly notable because the economic strengths of the two countries are complementary. Azerbaijan offers a gateway across the Caspian Sea toward the South Caucasus and European markets, while Uzbekistan brings the scale, industrial capacity and market potential of Central Asia.
President Ilham Aliyev recently highlighted this complementarity precisely in an interview with Uzbekistan’s National Information Agency (UzA), saying that the economic opportunities of the two countries open broad horizons for new forms of cooperation. The economic relationship between Baku and Tashkent increasingly supports that assessment. The two countries are no longer simply expanding trade in goods.
Their cooperation is gradually developing into a broader economic partnership involving investment, industrial production, energy, renewable power, transportation and tourism. The most visible sign of this momentum is the growth in bilateral trade. Trade turnover between Azerbaijan and Uzbekistan increased more than threefold in 2025, reaching $795 million.
In January-May 2026, it rose by another 33 percent year on year to $144 million. While these figures remain modest compared with the trade volumes of much larger economies, their growth rate demonstrates how quickly economic ties are expanding. More importantly, the relationship is increasingly moving from trade toward investment.
The Azerbaijan-Uzbekistan Investment Company, established with total capital of $500 million, provides a platform for financing projects in both countries. Such an institution can have a greater long-term impact than rising trade alone because it creates opportunities for companies from the two countries to participate in projects together and build permanent economic links. Industrial cooperation is already providing examples of this approach.
Azerbaijan and Uzbekistan are cooperating in the production of Chevrolet vehicles and Isuzu buses. By July 13, 2026, 10,720 Chevrolet vehicles and 275 Isuzu buses had been produced. These projects demonstrate the potential for cooperation to extend beyond importing and exporting finished products toward manufacturing, supply chains, technology and local production.
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