Karabakh: The 17th Summit of the Economic Cooperation Organization (ECO) took place in Khankendi, Azerbaijan on July 3-4, bringing together leaders and high-level representatives from ten member states spanning a vast geography—from Türkiye and Iran to Pakistan and the Central Asian republics.
The agenda included discussions on strengthening regional trade, energy cooperation, and transport connectivity, reflecting shared ambitions to increase resilience in the face of global economic and political challenges.
For Azerbaijan, hosting the summit in the Karabakh region carried both practical and symbolic weight. Once known primarily as the epicenter of a decades-long conflict, Karabakh is now being presented as a focal point for integration and development. In his opening remarks, President Ilham Aliyev emphasized Azerbaijan’s commitment to transforming its liberated territories into strategic hubs for trade and energy transit.
This choice of venue, while notable for its symbolism, also points to broader shifts in Eurasia’s geo-economic architecture. The Middle Corridor—connecting East Asia to Europe via Central Asia, the Caspian Sea, and the South Caucasus—has gained renewed attention as a viable alternative to traditional routes constrained by geopolitical tensions. Against this backdrop, the ECO summit in Khankendi served as both a diplomatic milestone and a strategic statement about the region’s future role.
Azerbaijan’s efforts to rebuild Karabakh have been rapid and strategic. Airports, highways, industrial zones, and renewable energy projects are turning the region into a node within the Middle Corridor, the trans-Eurasian trade route linking China and Europe. In a global environment where traditional routes face vulnerabilities—whether due to sanctions, conflicts, or logistical bottlenecks—the Middle Corridor has emerged as a crucial alternative. In 2023 alone, trade along this route increased by 33%, underscoring its growing relevance.
The ECO, long overlooked in Western discourse, represents more than 500 million people and includes economies rich in energy and industrial potential. The organization’s renewed focus on transport corridors, energy interconnectivity, and industrial cooperation comes at a time when global supply chains are being redrawn. Sanctions, climate transitions, and shifting manufacturing hubs mean the Eurasian heartland is no longer a passive transit zone—it is becoming a decision-making center.
For Azerbaijan, hosting the summit reinforces its role as a regional convener and as an organizing center for Eurasian connectivity. Discussions on the Zangezur Corridor—a proposed land link through southern Armenia connecting Azerbaijan to its exclave Nakhchivan and onward to Türkiye—highlight Baku’s ambitions to solidify its position as a key transit hub. This corridor could shorten freight transit between Asia and Europe by hundreds of kilometers and reduce dependency on maritime chokepoints such as the Suez Canal.
Energy security adds another dimension. Azerbaijan already supplies around 12 billion cubic meters of natural gas annually to the EU through the Southern Gas Corridor, a figure set to rise as Brussels seeks to diversify from Russian energy. Beyond hydrocarbons, Baku is investing in renewable energy projects, including in Karabakh, positioning itself to support Europe’s green transition through solar, wind, and potentially hydrogen exports.
Diplomatically, the summit reinforces Azerbaijan’s image as a pragmatic actor. President Aliyev’s emphasis on reintegration and regional stability, rather than revanchism, signals a forward-looking approach. Yet challenges remain: peace talks with Armenia are ongoing, and issues such as the return of Azerbaijanis displaced from Armenia decades ago remain unresolved. Baku frames these not as obstacles but as part of a broader agenda for durable regional security.
For Europe, the implications of these developments are far-reaching. A stable and economically dynamic South Caucasus serves as a bridge to Central Asia—a region where Turkish influence is already strong. For the EU, which is actively seeking diversified energy sources and resilient supply chains, deeper engagement with Azerbaijan and its neighbors offers a strategic opportunity.
The EU’s Global Gateway initiative aligns naturally with these emerging corridors, while investments in transport and energy infrastructure can help mitigate Europe’s exposure to external shocks. The ECO Summit in Karabakh thus illustrates how post-conflict territories can be transformed from flashpoints into engines of integration.
For Azerbaijan, it is a declaration of institutional consolidation and forward-looking leadership. For ECO countries, it reflects a readiness to move beyond outdated bloc politics into a new phase of cooperation. And for Europe, it is a quiet but significant reminder that the reconfiguration of Eurasia may not begin with grand declarations from Brussels but with deliberate, strategic actions in places like Karabakh—once a land of conflict, now a potential keystone in a new geo-economic order.
