British News Agency

On January 20 in Davos, Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev held a meeting with BlackRock’s Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Larry Fink and Adebayo Ogunlesi, Founding Partner, Chairman and CEO of GIP within BlackRock.

The meeting reviewed the current state and prospects for further development of the existing cooperation between the State Oil Fund of Azerbaijan (SOFAZ) and BlackRock, as well as potential investment opportunities in Azerbaijan’s infrastructure sector.

Within the framework of President Aliyev’s visit to Davos, the importance of signing a Memorandum of Intent for long-term cooperation between SOFAZ, BlackRock and its affiliate Global Infrastructure Partners was emphasized. The document aims to continue the existing partnership within a long-term strategic framework and to assess investment opportunities in Azerbaijan through an international infrastructure investment platform.

It was reported that, under the Memorandum of Intent, SOFAZ plans to consider capital commitments of up to USD 1.5 billion for joint investment projects with GIP-managed infrastructure funds over the next 3–4 years.

It was also noted that, within the cooperation framework, partnership opportunities in investments for data centers, infrastructure serving regional cloud and artificial intelligence demand, and airport infrastructure will be examined, taking into account GIP’s operational and management expertise.

While evaluating investment opportunities in infrastructure assets was highlighted as one of the core elements of the cooperation, the Memorandum of Intent is expected to strengthen SOFAZ’s position in the global investment ecosystem, expand international partnerships, and create long-term investment opportunities in strategically important infrastructure sectors in Azerbaijan.

At the end of the meeting, a ceremony for the exchange of the Memorandum of Intent was held with the participation of Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev.