The European Union–Azerbaijan high-level transport dialogue: A timely reaction to the structural changes?

Abstract

The European Union (EU) and Azerbaijan high-level transport dialogue is the continuation of the long period of cooperation between the EU and Azerbaijan in the area of transport since the early 1990s. The geopolitical and geo-economic maps of Eurasia, the South Caucasus, and the regions around have significantly changed since then thanks to rise of China, India, and other regional actors. These actors in their turn began to initiate competitive logistical and transportation projects to define terms and conditions of the making of Eurasian transport and trade routes. The ultimate goal is to have a share in controlling global flows passing through the strategic spots of Eurasian landmass. The EU’s recent transport dialogue with Azerbaijan reflects and is reaction to those changes that happened in the wider Europe, in Eurasia, and in the globe. This paper tries to place the EU and Azerbaijan transport dialogue to a broader picture to find out what changes conditioned and necessitated the upgraded dialogue between the EU and Azerbaijan. To do so, it traces the EU and Azerbaijan’s transport policies and cooperation since the early 1990s.

Presidential Discourses on Regionalism in Azerbaijan: Turkic Solidarity and the Silk Road

“…A milestone conference under the title "TRACECA -Rehabilitation of the Historical Silk Route" was held in September 1998 in Baku. Alongside the construction of a transit corridor integrating the TRACECA transport corridor with the Trans-European Transport Networks (TEN), this EU-funded project meant to serve as "a region-building initiative" helping countries along the route to overcome barriers in technical areas (Ziyadov 2007;Abilov and Hajiyev 2022).…”