Jaishankar meets Azerbaijani president, foreign minister as India tries to restore ties

India’s Minister of External Affairs S. Jaishankar met Azerbaijan’s Foreign Minister Jeyhun Bayramov on October 23, 2026 in Baku. Photo credit: ANI

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

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

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

“I am pleased to welcome Indian Foreign Minister 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,” Mr. Bayramov said, stressing “ongoing dialogue and exploring opportunities for cooperation in areas of common interest.”

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The way forward

“Our talks have outlined the way forward for our relationship. We have agreed to deepen political consultations, exchange visits, strengthen economic activities, build connectivity and promote people-to-people ties,” Mr Jaishankar said. He also extended India’s support to the Azerbaijan-Armenia peace process, saying that “India welcomes the initialing of a peace agreement by the leaders of Armenia and Azerbaijan last August. We hope it will lead to 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 expressed concern over the India-initiated Operation Sindoor in May 2025. On 7 May 2025, the Azerbaijani Foreign Ministry condemned Indian attacks on terror targets in Pakistan. “We condemn the military attacks against the Islamic Republic of Pakistan, which killed and injured several civilians,” the Azerbaijani ministry said.

Azerbaijan has also spoken out about the Kashmir issue at the international level, often calling for its “resolution”. On September 22 this year, Azerbaijan attended the meeting of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) contact group on Kashmir, where Mr. Bayramov said his country was seeking a “peaceful resolution of the Jammu and Kashmir issue in accordance with the norms and principles of international law, the UN Charter and relevant UN Security Council resolutions.”

In his remarks on Friday (23 October 2026), Mr Bayramov played down differences between the two sides, saying they maintain regular contact through both multilateral and bilateral formats. “We touched on a number of issues. I believe that the relations between Azerbaijan and India are on the way to develop to a higher level,” said Mr. Bayramov.

Growing cooperation

Despite past problems in relations, Mr. Bayramov on Friday highlighted Indian investment in Azerbaijan’s energy sector, spoke of expanding air links with India and the growing presence of the Indian community, especially students, in his country. “It’s no secret, we had different views on different issues (but) today we had a very long, 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. Late External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj visited Azerbaijan in April 2018 for a ministerial meeting of the Non-Aligned Movement (NAM).

In his remarks, Mr. Bayramov recalled that India and Azerbaijan remained connected through the NAM mechanism and that he met Mr. Jaishankar on the sidelines of the NAM ministerial meeting in Kampala, Uganda in January 2024. These interactions paved the way for a meeting between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the Azerbaijan summit, most recently the President of Kyrgyz Aliyek at B. SCO. month.

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

Published – 23 Oct 2026 23:01 IST