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Akbar Novruz

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At a summit on the Caspian coast, Azerbaijan secured something less dramatic than a treaty and potentially more revealing than another declaration: a place at the head of a post-Soviet institution it has belonged to for decades but never chaired.

Uzbekistan takes the CIS chair in 2027, with Azerbaijan as co-chair, and Baku will assume the full chairmanship in 2028. "We regard this as evidence of the high level of trust placed in our country and are ready to participate in the implementation of common tasks actively," Ilham Aliyev told fellow leaders. He went further, adding that "Azerbaijan is also ready to assume the CIS chairmanship in 2028 and organize the meeting of the CIS Council of Heads of State in the autumn of that year."

This was the statement made by the Azerbaijani President regarding the outcome in his speech. But it becomes even more intriguing to ask not whether Azerbaijan won its ceremonial seat but what it can do with it. Established at the time when the Soviet Union fell apart, the CIS has repeatedly found it difficult to transform shared history into a common cause. Each of its members has different strategic alliances, economic interests, and relationships with Russia.

Azerbaijan is due to chair the Consultative Meeting of Central Asian Heads of State in 2027, reflecting its growing inclusion in a format traditionally defined by the five Central Asian republics. It has also taken on leadership responsibilities within the Organization of Turkic States and the Conference on Interaction and Confidence Building Measures in Asia (CICA).

The country’s diplomatic diary extends beyond the post-Soviet space. There are plans for Azerbaijan to hold an OIC summit in 2027 and hand over the leadership of the organization to Baku. A European Political Community summit will be held in May 2028. These summits unite very different groups: states speaking the Turkic language, Asian security partners, Muslim countries, and Europeans.

Honestly, and subjectively, this is a rather unique portfolio for such a small country as Azerbaijan. However, this portfolio highlights one more difference that is often lost in diplomatic pronouncements: the possibility of setting an agenda through organizing a conference does not equal achieving consensus or receiving any investments from it. The challenge for Baku is to convert its busy schedule into real cooperation.

For a country of ten million people, a rotating gavel is leverage. Chairs set agendas, convene leaders and decide which issues get airtime. A state presiding over Turkic, Islamic, Asian, post-Soviet and pan-European forums within a couple of years can carry a message from one room to the next, and be seen doing so.

The CIS is the least glamorous of these platforms, yet useful for what Baku wants to say. Ilham Aliyev described the grouping as "an essential platform for maintaining political dialogue" and used the stage to show how Azerbaijan has changed. He thanked members for backing the designation of Lachin as the Cultural Capital of the Commonwealth, noting that guests "were able to witness firsthand its rapid revival, as well as the scale of the ongoing restoration work." He also pointed to the Third CIS Games, held across seven Azerbaijani cities over 11 days. "Such large-scale initiatives extend far beyond the realm of sports," he said. "They serve as a strong bridge of friendship between nations."

Beneath the soft power sits a harder argument about logistics, which is the real currency of Azerbaijani statecraft. "Thanks to its advantageous geographical location, our country has built modern transport and logistics infrastructure practically from the ground up," Aliyev said. The figures he offered were measured but clear: "In the first half of 2026, the volume of transit cargo through Azerbaijan increased by 10 percent, reaching nearly 8 million tons."

Hethen set a medium-term, realistic ambition of 15 million tonnes on each of the two corridors. The figures are significant, but ambitions for transit volumes depend on infrastructure, border procedures, shipping capacity and the choices of businesses well beyond Azerbaijan’s control. For the CIS, where transport connectivity is one of the few areas with a readily measurable payoff, these are more consequential questions than summit choreography.

The official readout made the same point, stressing that Azerbaijan's position linking Central Asia with the South Caucasus and Europe across the Caspian matters more as the Middle Corridor grows.

Beyond the old Commonwealth

Today, the CIS is 35 years old this year. The world dynamic is shifting faster than ever. The foreign policy of Azerbaijan has made sure to place a great deal of importance on strategic autonomy, whereas the newly gained chairmanship will force the country to deal with the institution that still identifies itself as a result of the collapse of the Soviet Union and the Russian heritage in the region. For Azerbaijan, regional diplomacy does not revolve around its ongoing territorial disputes, as it did during most of the country’s history since independence. On the contrary, Azerbaijan is hoping to leverage its geographic location and economic strengths as well as its diversified relationships into increased diplomatic weight. The issue of whether the CIS will be able to adapt to the changing world order is uncertain. Among the leaders gathered for the summit was Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian, attending a CIS meeting for the first time as a special guest. As it is quite relevant to Azerbaijan, Baku lies in an advantageous geographical location concerning the International North-South Transport Corridor, which aims to link Russia and northern Eurasia to Iran and markets further south. The increased involvement of Iran in regional organizations could open up avenues for cooperation in transportation, although numerous challenges remain to be addressed.

One thing that seems clear, however, is that Azerbaijan intends to be more involved in setting it. The coming two years are not just about accumulating presidencies but about whether Azerbaijan is able to become a meaningful mediator between institutions with diverse membership and differing priorities. Being elected to a chair is a relatively simple thing to declare. It is becoming something that matters that is the challenge.