Jaishankar meets Azerbaijan President, Foreign Minister as India attempts reset of ties

External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar on Friday (October 23, 2026) met Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev in Baku and said the visit charted a “pathway” for the future of the bilateral ties. The meeting comes more than a year after relations between India and Azerbaijan deteriorated over the latter’s opposition to India’s Operation Sindoor against Pakistan.

Mr. Jaishankar also met his counterpart Jayhun Bayramov, who said the two countries had “different view points on different issues” earlier, but highlighted new areas of cooperation like energy, and tourism after what he described as a “fruitful discussion”.

“We have common interest in really promoting peace and progress and prosperity. And threats like terrorism, conflict, and instability are our common enemies,” Mr. Jaishankar said in his remarks to the media after the meeting with Mr. Bayramov.

“Delighted to welcome the External Affairs Minister of India, Dr. S. Jaishankar, to exchange views on the current state and prospects of Azerbaijan-India relations, including political dialogue, trade and investment, energy, tourism and cultural ties,” said Mr. Bayramov, emphasising “continued dialogue and exploration of opportunities for cooperation in areas of mutual interest”.

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Way forward

“Our talks charted a pathway forward for our relationship. Agreed to deepen political consultations, exchange visits, enhance economic activities, build connectivity and foster people-to-people ties,” Mr. Jaishankar said.  He also extended India’s support to the peace process between Azerbaijan and Armenia, saying that “India welcomes the initialling of the peace agreement by the leaders of Armenia and Azerbaijan last August. We hope this will lead to the establishment of lasting peace. India’s position is very clear: disputes must be resolved through dialogue and diplomacy.”

The statement is the first major conciliatory step from the Indian side since Azerbaijan had expressed concern over the India-initiated Operation Sindoor of May 2025. Azerbaijan Foreign Ministry had, on May 7, 2025, condemned the Indian strikes against Pakistan-based terror targets. “We condemn military attacks against the Islamic Republic of Pakistan that killed and injured several civilians,” the Azerbaijani Ministry had said.

Azerbaijan has also been vocal on the Kashmir issue at the international level, often calling for its “resolution”. Azerbaijan participated in the meeting of the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) Contact Group on Kashmir on September 22 this year, where Mr. Bayramov said his country sought “peaceful resolution of the Jammu and Kashmir issue in accordance with the norms and principles of international law, the UN Charter, and the relevant resolutions of the UN Security Council.”

Mr. Bayramov in his remarks on Friday (October 23, 2026) downplayed the differences between the two sides and said they have maintained regular contact through multilateral as well as bilateral formats. “We have touched upon a number of issues. I believe Azerbaijan-India relations are on their way to developing to a higher level,” said Mr. Bayramov.

Growing cooperation

Despite past issues in ties, Mr. Bayramov on Friday highlighted Indian investments in the energy sector of Azerbaijan, spoke about the expanding air connectivity with India, and the growing presence of the Indian community, especially students, in his country. “It is no secret, we had different view point on different issues (but) today we had very long and positive and fruitful discussion,” Mr. Bayramov said.

Mr. Jaishankar’s visit to Baku is the first bilateral visit by an Indian External Affairs Minister in eight years. The late External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj had visited Azerbaijan in April 2018 for a Non-Aligned Movement (NAM) Ministerial meeting.

Mr. Bayramov in his remark reminded that India and Azerbaijan have remained connected through NAM mechanism and that he had met Mr. Jaishankar on the sidelines of the NAM ministerial meeting in Kampala, Uganda, in January 2024. These interactions had paved the ground for a meeting between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the Azerbaijani President, Mr. Aliyev, at the SCO summit in Bishkek, Kyrgyz Republic, last month.

Official sources here described the remarks from both sides on Friday as a sign of “diplomatic reset” as India expects to exert pressure on Turkiye and Pakistan by drawing Azerbaijan close. Azerbaijan is also understandably seeking India’s support to join the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO). Ministry of External Affairs Spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal told the media that the discussion on this matter will be held within the SCO grouping.