The statements made by President Ilham Aliyev at the 4th Shusha Global Media Forum reaffirm once again that Azerbaijan–Central Asia cooperation has entered a new strategic phase. Today, it is no longer merely about historical, cultural, and ethnic ties, but also about the formation of a unified geoeconomic space.

This was stated in a comment to AZERTAC by Ilyas Huseynov, Head of the Turkic World Research Center at the Center for Analysis of Economic Reforms and Communication (CAERC) and PhD in Political Science.

According to Ilyas Huseynov, Azerbaijan’s full participation in the Consultative Meeting of the Heads of State of Central Asia represents a crucial turning point in the history of interregional cooperation: "Alongside strengthening the institutional foundations of political dialogue between Central Asia and the South Caucasus, this initiative creates new opportunities for deepening economic integration. As President Ilham Aliyev emphasized, Central Asia and Azerbaijan are already beginning to operate as a unified economic and political space, serving the formation of a new geoeconomic architecture in Eurasia. Economic indicators also clearly demonstrate this potential. The Organization of Turkic States has become one of the significant regional cooperation platforms in Eurasia, possessing vast demographic and economic potential. The edition of the Turkic Economic Review for the first quarter of 2026, jointly published by CAERC and the Secretariat of the Organization of Turkic States (OTS), notes that the total GDP of Turkic states reached 673.6 billion US dollars in the first quarter of 2026. This accounts for 2.34 percent of global GDP. Their total population stands at 178.8 million people. The Review also highlights continuous progress in economic growth, trade, investment, industry, agriculture, banking, and public finance across the Turkic world, reflecting the region's expanding economic potential and integration. Strengthening transport connectivity, simplifying customs procedures, and developing logistics infrastructure can enable this figure to increase significantly in the coming years."

The Head of CTWS emphasized that Azerbaijan plays a key geoeconomic bridge role in this process. "As President Ilham Aliyev noted, by investing billions of dollars in transport infrastructure over the past decade, our country has become one of the main hubs of the East–West and North–South transport corridors. Increasing the annual throughput capacity of the Baku International Sea Trade Port from 15 million tons to 25 million tons, building new cargo vessels, and implementing projects along the Middle Corridor will further accelerate Central Asian countries' access to European markets. Global geopolitical conditions also elevate the importance of this cooperation. The risks observed in the Red Sea and the Strait of Hormuz demonstrated that the security of international trade cannot rely solely on maritime routes. In this regard, the Trans-Caspian International Transport Route (Middle Corridor) is becoming the most promising land-logistics route in Eurasia, with Azerbaijan serving as the primary coordinating country of this route," he pointed out.

Ilyas Huseynov stated that the Azerbaijan–Central Asia format is a new model of cooperation not only from an economic perspective, but also geopolitically: "This format strengthens regional stability, increases mutual investments, contributes to trade diversification, and serves the establishment of sustainable economic integration in Eurasia. I believe that in the near term, this cooperation will further accelerate the economic integration of the OTS and transform the organization into one of the most effective regional platforms in the global economic system."