Azerbaijan agrees multi-billion-dollar deals with investment giants

Azerbaijan Courts Global Capital With $10.8bn in New Agreements

Poinews.com – Azerbaijan has closed its latest international investment forum with $10.8 billion (€9.7 billion) in signed business agreements, underscoring Baku’s effort to draw major foreign investors into sectors beyond its long-established oil and gas economy.

The figure covers 26 contracts completed during the two-day Azerbaijan International Investment Forum, held in the capital. The agreements span fields including artificial intelligence, energy, manufacturing and production, Economy Minister Mikayil Jabbarov said.

“The confirmed amount that we can say today is $10.8 billion. Of 26 contracts that have been executed in various fields ranging from AI to energy, from manufacturing to production,” Jabbarov said.

The second edition of the forum came a year after investment agreements exceeding $10 billion, or roughly €8.8 billion, were announced at the inaugural event in 2025. More than $7 billion of that earlier total was linked to non-oil activities, an area increasingly central to Azerbaijan’s economic plans.

Expanding Beyond National Borders

Jabbarov presented Azerbaijan’s investment ambitions as international rather than limited to domestic projects. He said partnerships are helping Azerbaijani businesses, both state-owned and private, become more visible in nearby markets as well as in more distant economies such as the United States and Italy.

“We tend to look at opportunities not only within our geographical borders but also through partnerships,” he said.

The forum’s broader message was that Azerbaijan wants to convert investor attention into a more varied industrial base. Manufacturing, transport links, logistics, renewable power, digital technology, agriculture, tourism and infrastructure have all been identified as possible destinations for capital.

President Ilham Aliyev told participants that the non-oil economy represented 72% of gross domestic product in 2025. He also said real growth in non-oil GDP had averaged 5% a year since 2020. Those figures form an important part of the country’s case to investors seeking opportunities outside the energy sector.

Energy, however, remains a defining feature of Azerbaijan’s investment environment. Aliyev stressed that the contracts underpinning the development of the country’s oil and gas sector have retained their original terms for three decades, presenting that continuity as evidence of reliability for long-term investors.

“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,” Aliyev said.

“So already we have a very credible portfolio of being a very responsible partner,” he added.

Investment Giants Join the Conversation

The scale of the 2026 gathering was amplified by the financial weight of the companies represented at the Azerbaijan International Investment Forum and the Azerbaijan Infrastructure Investment Dialogue. Together, participating firms managed an estimated $30 trillion, or approximately €26.4 trillion, in assets.

Among the high-profile names were BlackRock, Global Infrastructure Partners and Brookfield Asset Management. Their participation highlights the importance Baku places on attracting institutional investors with the capacity to fund large, long-term projects.

The infrastructure dialogue was held behind closed doors and hosted by Azerbaijan’s sovereign wealth fund, SOFAZ, together with BlackRock. BlackRock reported $15.3 trillion, around €13.5 trillion, in assets under management in July 2026. Global Infrastructure Partners, which has operated within BlackRock since 2024, manages about $170 billion, or €149.6 billion.

Such discussions matter because infrastructure investment typically extends well beyond individual construction projects. Transport systems, energy networks, digital infrastructure and logistics facilities can shape the ability of other industries to grow, move goods and reach external markets.

Foreign Investment Continues to Rise

Foreign direct investment into Azerbaijan exceeded $3 billion in the first half of 2026, a year-on-year rise of 13.8%, figures from the Central Bank of Azerbaijan show. The United Kingdom, Türkiye, Cyprus, Russia and Iran were the leading investor countries during that period.

At the same time, Azerbaijani capital flowing into foreign economies surpassed $5 billion, more than €4 billion. Italy, Türkiye, the United Kingdom, the United Arab Emirates and Georgia were the main destinations for those outward investments.

The two-way movement of capital reflects Azerbaijan’s growing focus on economic connections across several regions. For the country, the challenge is not merely to secure investment pledges, but to turn them into operating projects that create durable activity in sectors less dependent on hydrocarbons.

Business leaders at the forum also pointed to the role of marketing and internationally visible development projects in raising Azerbaijan’s profile. Orkhan Mustafayev, founder and chairman of Sabah Investment Group, said sustained promotional efforts were beginning to produce results, with projects such as Sea Breeze drawing significant attention.

The latest agreements signal confidence in Azerbaijan’s potential across a wider set of industries, but their longer-term value will depend on implementation. As Baku seeks to build on its energy wealth, the country is positioning infrastructure, technology and non-oil industries as the next stage of its investment story.