Azerbaijan engineers rare summit with in-conflict Middle East and Asian leaders

For the first time since the outbreak of the Iran war, top delegations from Middle Eastern and Asian countries engaged in ongoing political and military conflicts met in Baku on Thursday for the Conference on Interaction and Confidence-Building Measures in Asia (CICA), hosted by Azerbaijan.

Azerbaijan’s President Ilham Aliyev has brought together Israel's President Isaac Herzog, Iran’s deputy Foreign Minister Kazem Gharibabadi, Turkey’s Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan, Russia’s Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, Qatar’s Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al-Thani, UAE Minister of State for Foreign Affairs Khalifa bin Shaheen Al Marar and a Palestinian delegation led by Foreign Minister Varsen Aghabekian Shahin together with regional and Asian leaders, including China's Foreign Minister Wang Yi, for the seventh edition of the CICA summit.

In his opening speech, Aliyev declared that “geographically situated at the intersection of Asia and Europe, Azerbaijan plays an increasingly important role as a connecting hub in the Eurasian space.”

“Our country’s cooperation with many states in bilateral and multilateral formats across the political, economic, transport, energy and humanitarian fields, in turn, strengthens the security system in our region,” Azerbaijan’s president said, explaining the importance of the agreement of the countries present to participate in the summit alongside each other during tumultuous times.

The CICA is defined as “a forum for promoting peace, security and cooperation through dialogue and mutual trust,” as well as “confidence-building measures and opportunities to strengthen cooperation across Asia,” while the agenda focuses on “regional security, transport links, digital cooperation and sustainable growth.”

As the summit kicked off on Thursday, the presidents of Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan joined heads of state and governments from China, Laos, Cambodia, Vietnam, India and Sri Lanka.

In a surprising move, Israel’s President Isaac Herzog travelled to Baku on Wednesday for the summit and met with Azerbaijan’s leader, whom he called a friend.

In multiple social media posts, Herzog called Azerbaijan “an important partner of Israel in our region,” and said the visit “aims to further strengthen the strong Israel-Azerbaijan ties in the areas of security, energy, and trade." His office said he would also “connect with the local Jewish community.”

In a post about the talks, Herzog hailed the “excellent” relations and said that under Aliyev’s leadership “Azerbaijan is a country that has earned deep respect, reliability, and influence in our region.”

“The excellent relations between Israel and Azerbaijan are based on mutual respect, shared interests, and the deep historical ties that exist between our peoples. In our meeting today, we discussed ways to further deepen our strategic relations in many areas for the prosperity of both our countries," Herzog said in his post on X.

"We also discussed the recent events in the region, as well as our shared commitment to ensuring stability and security in our region,” he added.

Azerbaijan’s presidency posted a video of the meeting on social media, together with a brief statement that the two leaders held talks.

Moreover, Israel’s president appeared to have travelled to Baku onboard an Azerbaijan Airlines commercial flight, as shown by photos and videos of his arrival, reportedly to be able to cross through Turkish airspace.

In another development, Israel’s president held what he called “an excellent meeting” with Bahrain’s foreign minister Dr Abdul Latif bin Rashid Al Zayani.

“We discussed the friendship and ties between Israel and Bahrain, and the importance of the Abraham Accords, led by the United States, in strengthening security, stability, and prosperity in the Middle East,” Herzog said in a post on X.

“Bahrain is an important country in the Middle East, and I conveyed my warmest wishes to King Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa and the Bahraini people," he added.

Since the beginning of the Iran war in late February, Bahrain has been heavily bombed by Iran, and the two countries have had icy relations for a long time.