On January 20 in Davos, President of the Republic of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev met with Larry Fink, Chief Executive Officer of one of the world’s leading asset management companies, BlackRock, and Adebayo Ogunlesi, Founder, Chairman and CEO of Global Infrastructure Partners (GIP), which is part of BlackRock.
During the meeting, the parties discussed the current state and future prospects of cooperation between the State Oil Fund of the Republic of Azerbaijan (SOFAZ) and BlackRock, as well as potential investment opportunities in artificial intelligence and data centers supporting regional cloud services in Azerbaijan. The sides exchanged views on modern infrastructure projects aimed at meeting the country’s growing digital and AI demand.
As part of the President’s visit to Davos, a memorandum of understanding on long-term strategic cooperation was signed between SOFAZ, BlackRock, and GIP. Under the document, the possibility of investing up to USD 1.5 billion over the next 3–4 years in infrastructure funds managed by GIP and in joint investment projects will be considered.
Within the framework of the cooperation, opportunities to leverage GIP’s international operational and management expertise in artificial intelligence, data centers, cloud infrastructure, and airport infrastructure will be explored. This step supports Azerbaijan’s goal of becoming a regional hub for AI and high technologies.
The meeting concluded with an exchange ceremony of the memorandum of understanding attended by the President of Azerbaijan.
