Azerbaijan Expands India Outreach Despite Strong Pakistan Ties

Azerbaijan is set to launch direct flights between its capital Baku and Ahmedabad in Gujarat from July this year. This would be the Azerbaijan Airlines' third destination in India after Delhi and Mumbai. This shows the airline's interest in connecting Azerbaijan with major Indian cities.

The airline informed last week that the "flights will be operated on Tuesdays, Thursdays, Fridays, and Sundays from July 4th."

According to The Economic Times, flights between Mumbai and Baku will be regular from June 16 which usually operates on Tuesdays, Thursdays, Fridays and Sundays. Citing sources, it also reported that Azerbaijan has witnessed a surge of Indian visitors over the year and recorded the highest number of tourists in the last year.

Is Azerbaijan Seeking Deeper Ties with India?

Recent developments suggest that Azerbaijan, a long term ally of Pakistan, may be seeking a closer relationship with India. Following the terrorist attack in Pahalgam, Jammu and Kashmir, on April 22, Azerbaijan issued a message of condolence to India—a gesture seen as noteworthy given its close ties with Pakistan.

In another significant move, Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev chose not to comment on the Kashmir issue during a press conference last month, even as he hosted Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif in Baku. This silence could also be interpreted as a diplomatic balancing act.

India-Azerbaijan Trade

Bilateral trade between India and Azerbaijan increased substantially from around $18mn in 2000 to over $739mn in 2021. According to the Azerbaijani statistics, the bilateral trade further increased to $1.8bn in 2022 registering 156.4% increase. Indian exports to Azerbaijan increased from $45mn in 2011 to $220mn in 2022.

The important items of direct and indirect exports from India to Azerbaijan are rice, smartphones, oxides of aluminium, drugs, mobile phones, ceramic tiles and paving, granite, mechanical spades and excavators, meat of large horned livestock, vaccines for human medicine black tea. On the other hand, India's major imports from Azerbaijan include crude oil, urea, oil coke, iodine, raw silk (not thrown) cattle skins, acyclic ethers and lemonade.

Rice is the main commodity of exports, which accounts for 80.8% of the total import of rice in Azerbaijan.

Additionally, in terms of India's investment in Azerbaijan, ONGC Videsh acquired 2.72% participating interest in the Production Sharing Agreement for Azeri, Chirag and deep-water portion of the Gunashli (ACG) fields in the Azerbaijan sector of the Caspian Sea from Hess (ACG) in 2013. ONGC Videsh has invested over $1.2bn in the project since March 2013. As connectivity improves and mutual interests grow, India and Azerbaijan seem poised to forge a more robust partnership, despite the complexities of their traditional alliances.