Indian Foreign Minister visits Azerbaijan as relations appear to be on the mend

Indian Foreign Minister Subrahmanyam Jaishankar visited Azerbaijan on Friday, where he held one-on-one meetings with President Ilham Aliyev and his Azerbaijani counterpart Jeyhun Bayramov. It was Jaishankar’s first visit to Azerbaijan and also the highest-level Indian delegate to visit Azerbaijan in almost a decade.

While Baku and New Delhi have normalised relations, their interactions have historically been complicated by India’s closer ties with Armenia. In turn, Azerbaijan also has long been allies with Pakistan, India’s top geopolitical foe. For its part, Pakistan only established diplomatic relations with Armenia in 2025.

In September 2025, India reportedly blocked Azerbaijan from joining Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO). Simultaneously, Pakistan blocked Armenia from joining the organisation in response.

In May 2025, the India-Pakistan conflict created an opportunity for Armenia and Azerbaijan to take sides with their allies. On one side, India and Armenia, and on the other side — Pakistan and Azerbaijan. The clash between the two alliances created tension between India and Azerbaijan.

In Jaishankar’s statement at the press conference he said that India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Aliyev had previously met in Bishkek on the sidelines of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) Summit, and his visit to Baku was a follow up to that meeting.

‘We exchanged views on various aspects of our relationship’, said Jaishankar on Friday

He added that he talked with Bayramov about expanding their relations and discussed economic cooperation, including trade investment and energy

Jaishankar said that Indian companies have been operating in Azerbaijan for many years, and investment, especially in the oil-energy sector, is crucial.

‘Both countries make a significant contribution to the International North-South Transport Corridor. We agreed to conduct closer coordination in this direction. We also considered ways to increase the number of direct flights and further deepen our relations’.

Jaishankar also highlighted the importance of the progress towards peace between Azerbaijan and Armenia.

In an official readout after the meeting, President Ilham Aliyev stated that he highly appreciated the visit of Jaishankar on the instructions of Prime Minister Modi. Aliyev highlighted the importance of discussing bilateral relations with India.

The Azerbaijani readout of the meeting highlighted how both Azerbaijan and India, are ‘members of the Global South’ and ‘share similar positions on a number of issues on the international agenda, including matters of concern to countries of the Global South. In this regard, they discussed prospects for bilateral cooperation in political, trade and economic, high-tech, cultural, humanitarian and other fields’.

Non-government figures from both countries also said the meeting indicated positive trends in the bilateral relationship.

‘Azerbaijan is a gateway to the Caspian, Central Asia and Europe. For Azerbaijan, India is a market of 1.4 billion people and an important part of its effort to diversify partnerships toward Asia’, wrote Vasif Huseynov, head of the Azerbaijani pro-government think tank the AIR Centre.

‘Overall, there is indeed great potential in the India-Azerbaijan relations, and good news for both sides is that there is now political will to realise this potential’, Huseynov continued.

Suhasini Haidar, Diplomatic Affairs Editor from the Indian media outlet The Hindu, described the meeting as a ‘major turnaround in ties’, in consideration of the tit-for-tat blocking of SCO memberships the year before.

‘When required, diplomacy works’, Haidar concluded.

Aslan is a Georgian–Azerbaijani student expanding the age gap at OC Media as an intern. He enjoys working out 6–7 days a week and keeping up with Rustaveli Avenue’s renovation.

Source: OC Media