The Central Asia and Azerbaijan today form a single geopolitical and geo-economic province, the Azerbaijan’s President Ilham Aliyev said in Tashkent on August 23 following talks with the President Shavkat Mirziyoyev.
Aliyev said Uzbekistan today looks markedly different from the country it was just a few years ago.
"We see a completely different Uzbekistan today — one that commands great respect from the international community, where issues of industrial, agricultural, energy and transport infrastructure development are being resolved swiftly and effectively," he said.
The Azerbaijani leader stressed that it was precisely the economic foundation built in Uzbekistan that allowed the two countries to move forward with joint projects.
"Without that foundation, without that potential, none of our joint projects could have been realized. In fact, before Shavkat Miromonovich took the helm of Uzbekistan, our countries had not implemented a single joint project together," he noted.
According to Aliyev, the target of raising bilateral trade turnover to $1 billion no longer looks like a distant prospect.
"Today we're talking about that billion-dollar trade target not as some far-off dream, but as an outcome we are likely to reach within just a few years," the Azerbaijani president said.
Aliyev dwelt at length on the expansion of Azerbaijan's cooperation with the countries of Central Asia.
"Today, Central Asia and Azerbaijan constitute a single geopolitical and geo-economic province — one with enormous potential and even greater opportunities for development going forward," he said.
He added that the positive momentum in this "newly formed and already fairly well-integrated province" depends, among other things, on close coordination between Uzbekistan and Azerbaijan.
The Azerbaijani president noted that the two countries are already cooperating across nearly every major sector — energy, transport, investment, tourism, mining, the automotive industry, agriculture and processing.
Azerbaijan joined the Consultative Meeting format of Central Asian heads of state in November 2025.
Among the newer areas of cooperation, Aliyev singled out banking and the oil and gas sector.
"I should also mention our cooperation in banking — a leading Azerbaijani bank entering the Uzbek market — and SOCAR's entry into Uzbekistan's retail market," he said.
He added that joint oil and gas exploration projects are also nearing the implementation stage.
"As for our oil and gas exploration projects, we are essentially in the final stage now, and we very much hope to begin drilling production wells next year. After that, I'm hopeful the exploratory drilling and geological survey work will yield good results," he said.
Aliyev also pointed to joint projects taking shape not only in Tashkent and Baku, but in the provinces of both countries.
He cited Uzbekistan's construction of a 960-seat school named after Mirzo Ulugbek in Fuzuli, as well as investment in a garment factory in Khankendi.
"If you add to that the investment fund — already one-third allocated to specific projects — along with investment projects in Azerbaijan's tourism infrastructure and automotive industry, you're already talking about billions of dollars in investment," Aliyev said.
He noted that investment typically flows to friendly countries with a favorable investment climate.
"It is very much to Shavkat Miromonovich's credit that, through his reforms, persistence and wisdom, he built an investment climate that allowed both international financial institutions and major global players to see Uzbekistan as a country on a successful development path," Aliyev said.
The Azerbaijani president closed his remarks by inviting Mirziyoyev to pay a state visit to Azerbaijan at a time of his convenience.
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