After a year of tensions between India and Azerbaijan over Operation Sindoor, the governments decided to reset ties as senior officials met in Baku for the 6th round of Foreign Office consultations. The talks, held between Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) Secretary (West) Sibi George and Azerbaijan’s Deputy Foreign Minister Elnur Mammadov on Friday are the first such talks since 2022, and after deep differences over Azerbaijan-Pakistan and India-Armenia relations.
In a statement, the MEA said the two sides “comprehensively reviewed” the state of bilateral relations. “The issues discussed included trade, technology, tourism, pharmaceuticals, energy, culture, people-to-people exchanges and fight against cross-border terrorism,” it added.
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Azerbaijan has recently resumed crude oil exports to India, which make up 98% of Azerbaijan’s exports to India, while ONGC Videsh maintains a stake in oil and gas fields and an energy pipeline in the country.
The reference to cross-border terrorism in the statement is significant as last year, New Delhi had been angered by Azerbaijan’s protest of India’s strikes on Pakistani sites during Operation Sindoor after the Pahalgam terror attacks, and indicates that the two countries have smoothed over some of their differences since then. In a statement on May 7 last year, the Azerbaijan Foreign Ministry has “condemned military attacks against the Islamic Republic of Pakistan that killed and injured several civilians,” and called on all parties to “exercise restraint and to resolve the conflict through diplomatic means.” Azerbaijan and Pakistan have a close strategic partnership, particularly given Islamabad’s support to Azerbaijan against Armenia in the dispute over Nagorno Karabakh, while Azerbaijan’s government accused New Delhi of arming Armenia in the conflict.
