The speech delivered by President of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev at the 8th Congress of the New Azerbaijan Party should be viewed not only as a domestic political address, but also as a systematic articulation of how Baku sees its place in the changing international order.

This assessment was made by Nargiz Mammadova, an international relations expert at the CASPIA Analytical Center, who analysed the key foreign policy and geopolitical messages of the President’s speech on CBC TV’s Economy of the Day programme.

The 8th Congress of the New Azerbaijan Party was held in Baku on October 2, 2026. A significant part of President Ilham Aliyev’s address focused on security, foreign policy, military and political capabilities, energy, transport connectivity and Azerbaijan’s position within the emerging international system. In particular, the President stated that Azerbaijan did not intend to align itself with competing international blocs and that the country’s foreign policy should be “not defensive, but active and predominantly offensive.”

According to Mammadova, the speech presents Azerbaijan as a state that does not seek to tie itself exclusively to any single centre of power. Aliyev himself emphasised the multidirectional nature of the country’s international relations, its engagement with different political centres and its decision to refrain from joining any particular international camp. He also noted that Azerbaijan is increasingly becoming a venue for contacts between representatives of states whose relations with one another remain complicated.

From a realpolitik perspective, Mammadova argues that for a relatively small state the objective is not to distance itself from major powers. Rather, it is to maintain functional relations with several centres of power simultaneously while preventing those relationships from developing into one-sided dependence.

Particularly indicative in this respect was the emphasis placed in the speech on Azerbaijan’s strategic relations with both the United States and China. In February 2026, Azerbaijan and the United States signed a Charter on Strategic Partnership covering cooperation in regional connectivity, energy, trade, investment, digital infrastructure and security. Relations with China, meanwhile, had previously been elevated to the level of a comprehensive strategic partnership.

According to the CASPIA expert, the simultaneous development of these two tracks carries significant geopolitical implications. Amid intensifying global competition between Washington and Beijing, Baku is seeking not to choose between the two centres of power, but to develop a distinct functional agenda with each. Such a model allows Azerbaijan to derive political and economic benefits from cooperation with different partners while retaining the ability to determine independently the scope and limits of that cooperation.

Another important message in the President’s speech was the characterisation of Azerbaijan as an emerging “middle power.” Aliyev noted that a number of experts already place the country within the category of middle powers, linking this status, among other factors, to Azerbaijan’s economic independence and its growing international standing.

Mammadova believes that the significance lies less in the label itself than in the criteria through which Azerbaijan seeks to give substance to this status. In the classical understanding, a middle power cannot compete with great powers in terms of aggregate military or economic capabilities. It can, however, exercise influence disproportionate to its size by leveraging geography, resources, regional networks, diplomatic flexibility and its ability to remain relevant to several major actors simultaneously.

In Azerbaijan’s case, these instruments include its energy resources, its position at the intersection of the East–West and North–South transport corridors, and its relationships with Central Asia, the South Caucasus, Türkiye, Europe, the United States, China and the Islamic world. In November 2025, Azerbaijan became a full participant in the Consultative Meetings of the Heads of State of Central Asia, a step that further institutionalised the relationship between the South Caucasus and Central Asia.

According to Mammadova, amid the continuing transformation of the international system, Azerbaijan’s actual geopolitical position in the coming years will be determined precisely by its ability to combine these instruments rather than relying predominantly on any single one of them.