$30 trillion: Baku has gathered the summit of the global financial Olympus

September 2026 will go down in the history of the regional and global economy as the moment when the global financial Olympus definitively established a new strategic point of attraction on the economic map of Eurasia.

The Second Azerbaijan International Investment Forum (AIIF 2026), held under the patronage of President Ilham Aliyev, demonstrated a scale and level of representation without parallel in the modern history of the South Caucasus.

The main indicator of this event is an impressive, truly unprecedented figure: the combined volume of assets under management (AUM) of the international institutional investors, management companies, sovereign and investment funds gathered in Baku reached the gigantic mark of 30 trillion US dollars.

In effect, these days the capital concentrated in Azerbaijan's capital exceeds the annual gross domestic product of the planet's largest economies and constitutes a significant share of global financial and investment resources.

More than 3,000 registered participants came together on a single platform, including 803 distinguished representatives from 70 countries of the world. Top executives of leading transnational corporations, global financial and investment conglomerates, international financial institutions, as well as key analytical centers arrived in Baku. The forum's key sessions and the special «Dialogue on Infrastructure Investments in Azerbaijan» were held with the joint organizational support of the State Oil Fund of the Republic of Azerbaijan (SOFAZ) and the global investment giant BlackRock.

A concentration of capital of such a scale in Baku is no coincidence. It is clear and convincing evidence that Azerbaijan's long-term, consistent and pragmatic economic policy has created not merely a favorable investment climate, but a qualitatively new institutional environment. In this environment, the largest international players see a firm guarantee of reliability, high predictability, political stability and long-term returns on their investments.

The architecture of global trust: why financial market leaders choose Baku

Behind the historic figure of $30 trillion lies a fundamental rethinking of Azerbaijan's geo-economic and geopolitical status. In his speech at the Second Azerbaijan International Investment Forum, President Ilham Aliyev clearly outlined the country's key advantages, which have made it a magnet for the world's largest investors.

The head of state noted that exceptional conditions for the operation of foreign capital have been created in the republic. Emphasizing that many leading international companies consider Azerbaijan a reliable partner in various sectors of the economy, Ilham Aliyev stated:

«Many leading international companies consider Azerbaijan a reliable partner in various sectors of the economy. Very favorable conditions for investment have now developed in our country».

One of the fundamental conditions for long-term business strategy planning is stability and personal safety. The President drew investors' particular attention to the fact that Azerbaijan is one of the safest places in the world, and that the crime situation in the republic is under the full control of the state.

At a time when the customary geography of trade is under enormous strain, Baku offers investors a clear and sustainable route. Ilham Aliyev drew the forum participants' attention to the fact that some traditional supply chains are exposed to risks today, and that this opens up broad opportunities for domestic and foreign investment.

A special place in the head of state's speech was occupied by the thesis of rethinking the republic's geographical and economic role in the Eurasian space. Today Azerbaijan is successfully acting as a most important connecting bridge:

«Azerbaijan is geographically located in the South Caucasus, but we have become a full-fledged member of the Central Asian region from the political, economic and transport points of view. Of course, the administrative system, the digitalization of transport, customs procedures, which are very open, transparent and clear to investors, as well as the regulatory and legal framework – all of this strengthens our potential. Even if the geopolitical situation in our region changes and returns to the one that existed five years ago, we will still remain a very attractive country for suppliers».

The head of state also emphasized the country's key geographical position at the crossroads of global logistics routes:

«Carriers transporting goods through Azerbaijan must also use the ferry, that is, the crossing over the Caspian Sea. If you want to move in the East-West or North-South direction, you must choose Azerbaijan. These are two very important corridors. Azerbaijan is one of the few countries that actively participates in both».

Political and economic stability, reinforced by a sovereign balance sheet, the absence of critical external debt and the presence of a powerful financial reserve in the form of SOFAZ, serves as the main anchor for institutional giants. Amid global turbulence, investors receive in Baku precisely what they value above all — transparency, reliability and strategic vision.

A strategic alliance with alpha players: details of the head of state's meetings

The significance of AIIF 2026 was clearly manifested not only during the plenary sessions and thematic panels, but also in a series of extremely intensive, in-depth substantive meetings held by President Ilham Aliyev with the top management of the global financial industry on September 25. Each of these dialogues reflects the dynamic transition from general strategic interest to the practical management of specific joint projects of international scale.

BlackRock and Global Infrastructure Partners: the digital era, infrastructure and artificial intelligence

A special, fundamental place on Azerbaijan's investment map is occupied by the partnership with BlackRock — the world's largest asset manager, whose capacities exceed an astronomical 15.3 trillion US dollars. Since 2024, BlackRock's structure has included Global Infrastructure Partners (GIP) — a specialized giant with $170 billion in assets under management, focusing on investments in critical energy, transport, digital infrastructure, systemic water supply and waste processing. It is important to emphasize that GIP, alongside such giants as BlackRock, Microsoft and MGX, is one of the key founders of the Global Artificial Intelligence Infrastructure Fund.

During President Ilham Aliyev's meeting with GIP founder, chairman and chief executive officer Adebayo Ogunlesi, the parties discussed in detail the practical implementation of the strategic agreements laid down at the beginning of the year during the World Economic Forum in Davos. The past months of intensive work have brought significant results: the signing of a long-term memorandum of intent between SOFAZ, BlackRock and GIP has grown into real joint investment steps.

The Azerbaijani investment fund is already successfully investing together with GIP in such large-scale international assets as the leading Italian high-speed passenger train operator Italo and one of Europe's largest aviation hubs — London's Gatwick Airport. Within the framework of the forum held in Baku, SOFAZ and BlackRock outlined new prospects for partnership focused on the development of Azerbaijan's domestic digital, telecommunications and transport and logistics infrastructure.

Brookfield Asset Management: large-scale capital for the green transition

The Azerbaijani President's reception of Brookfield Asset Management chief executive officer Connor Teskey became yet another weighty confirmation of global capital's systematic attention to the republic. The management company Brookfield, with more than 1 trillion US dollars in assets under management, is a recognized world leader in the field of real assets. Its infrastructure portfolio includes:

* More than 308 thousand telecommunications facilities and base stations;

* More than 77 thousand kilometers of high-speed fiber-optic networks;

* 150 modern data centers around the world;

* Almost 36.3 thousand kilometers of railway lines and 3.2 thousand kilometers of toll roads;

* Utility infrastructure enterprises providing vital services to more than 10 million consumers on all continents.

Developing the agreements recorded in the Davos memorandum of intent between SOFAZ and Brookfield Asset Management, the parties focused their attention on projects in energy transition, renewable energy (solar and wind generation), industrial energy storage systems and digital infrastructure. For Azerbaijan, which is steadily strengthening its position as a regional hub of «green» energy and an exporter of clean electricity to Europe, the partnership with Brookfield opens a direct window of access to the most advanced technologies and flexible, scalable capital.

Neuberger Berman: institutional synergy proven by time

No less important a milestone of the forum's program was the head of state's dialogue with Neuberger Berman chairman and chief executive officer George Walker. Founded in 1939 in New York, this independent investment structure with $613 billion in assets under management possesses a most powerful global private markets platform, where the volume of investment commitments exceeds $170 billion, and the portfolios of the managed funds hold stakes in more than 10,400 companies around the planet.

Institutional cooperation between the State Oil Fund of Azerbaijan and Neuberger Berman has been successfully developing since 2016. During the meeting in Baku, the executives discussed the impressive results of a decade of interaction in the spheres of private equity and private credit, and also outlined new points of joint participation in international and regional projects. Ilham Aliyev particularly emphasized that the adoption of the Charter on Strategic Partnership between the Government of Azerbaijan and the Government of the United States has laid a solid political and legal foundation, opening a qualitatively new page in the promotion of American investments in the Azerbaijani economy.

Key investment priorities: from «green» energy to high-tech infrastructure

In his programmatic speech at the forum, President Ilham Aliyev clearly demonstrated exactly where Azerbaijan is directing the vector of its economic development and where it expects the greatest synergy with international capital.

First of all, these are renewable energy sources. The head of state emphasized that Azerbaijan has enormous potential in this sphere and excellent opportunities to create powerful solar and wind power plants:

«Our goal is to reduce natural gas consumption as much as possible and to use these reserves for export. In the next five years, renewable energy will be everywhere in Azerbaijan».

At the same time, the President noted that the growing energy capacities will work in two directions — export-oriented and domestic high-tech:

«Having additional energy capacities, we are considering two directions. First, how we can make maximum use of them inside the country – for the development of artificial intelligence and the creation of data centers. Second, how we can export them».

The head of state particularly emphasized the country's ambitious task on the international stage: «We want to be a very reliable supplier of electricity». Recalling that Azerbaijan already exports oil, natural gas, petroleum products, petrochemical products and fertilizers, being one of the few such countries in the region, Ilham Aliyev stated: «We want to become a major exporter of electricity, especially to the European market».

As the second most important vector, the President named transnational infrastructure of a new generation. Ilham Aliyev clearly indicated that physical construction must be complemented by deep technological transformation:

«I believe that one of the attractive areas for investment can be infrastructure that meets transnational interests. First of all, transport, logistics, physical infrastructure and infrastructure for software. Yes, we can build many bridges, ports and ships. But we will find ourselves the losers if we do not keep pace with modern trends in the field of digitalization and customs administration, and also if we do not simplify the cargo clearance procedure. Another issue concerns power transmission lines, and there is enormous potential here».

The third important incentive is the mining industry and mineral resources. The head of state recalled that just a few days ago the State Program on the Mining Industry was adopted, envisaging a large-scale set of measures.

The broad geography of institutional capital: from Singapore to Ankara

The scale of the Second Azerbaijan International Investment Forum is not limited exclusively to American and European financial giants. Executives and managing directors of leading Asian and Middle Eastern institutions took part in the discussions and investment panels in Baku. Among them are the Singaporean sovereign fund Temasek, which is a benchmark of effective management of state assets in Asia, the Turkey Wealth Fund (TVF), as well as the largest international structures, such as Franklin Templeton, PGIM, KKR, Ares and others.

Such broad geographical diversification of participants demonstrates that Baku is becoming a unique neutral platform where the interests of Western, Asian and Middle Eastern capital intersect. At a time when world markets are experiencing fragmentation, Azerbaijan acts as a reliable integrator, capable of uniting the capabilities of sovereign funds and private investment corporations for the implementation of global projects in energy, logistics and high technologies.

The Second Azerbaijan International Investment Forum clearly demonstrated that the far-sighted, consistent policy of Ilham Aliyev has turned the republic into an absolute center of attraction for the international financial and business elite. Today Azerbaijan does not simply attract capital — it actively participates in shaping the rules of the game, sets the highest standards of investment cooperation and lays a solid foundation for the economic landscape of the South Caucasus and the entire Eurasian continent for decades to come.