Caucasus
Coverage across the South Caucasus — Georgia, Armenia, and Azerbaijan.
Russian gas flows to Armenia again after 10 days of pipeline work: 2.7 billion cubic metres a year through one line across Georgia while Simonyan names four suppliers for the future
Gazprom Armenia said gas deliveries through the North Caucasus-Transcaucasia trunk pipeline resumed on 25 September after a suspension “from 15 September” for planned maintenance and repair on the Russian section, Interfax reported at 12:20 Moscow time. The line carried about 2.7 billion cubic metres to Armenia in 2025, beside the roughly 476 million a year that arrive from Iran in the gas-for-electricity swap, and Interfax put the contract price at $177.5 per 1,000 cubic metres to the end of 2026 or the start of 2027; Security Council secretary Alen Simonyan had given $165 at the border on 16 September, frozen since 2019.
Azerbaijan’s second investment forum closes on 12 documents by APA’s list and 11 by Report.az’s: an Azerbaijani-Omani fund into Azer-Turk Bank, SOCAR into water, no sums printed
The second Azerbaijan International Investment Forum in Baku, held under President Aliyev’s patronage, produced a signing list of 12 documents in APA’s count at 12:47 and 11 in Report.az’s at 14:10, with no sum attached to any of them. The one ownership line is the Azerbaijani-Omani investment fund’s non-controlling stake in Azer-Turk Bank, signed for the Azerbaijani side by Deyanet Sadullayev, acting chief executive of the Azerbaijan Investment Holding; SOCAR’s line is a cooperation agreement with the State Water Resources Agency and Esyasoft.
Three Caucasus capitals sell one corridor at the UN in a day: Kobakhidze’s $7 billion to 2032, Pashinyan’s 26% rising to 49%, and Bayramov’s direct dialogue with Mirzoyan
Irakli Kobakhidze told the UN General Assembly on Thursday that Georgia will put $7 billion into its transit infrastructure by 2032, the railway’s modernisation, new highways, the Anaklia deep-water port, a new international airport for Tbilisi and a fibre-optic cable under the Black Sea, and that Georgia “reaffirms its readiness to maintain dialogue with all international partners willing to work with us on the basis of mutual respect and sovereign equality”; the words European Union did not occur in the speech, Novosti Gruzii noted on Friday morning, and 20% of the country “remains under the occupation of the Russian Federation”. The same day Nikol Pashinyan told the hall that Armenia “will initially have a 26 percent stake in the TRIPP Development Company” and that “in the 50th year, the Republic of Armenia’s share will become 49 percent”, Armenpress reported at 05:24 on Friday, and on the margins Jeyhun Bayramov and Ararat Mirzoyan reviewed the progress since the Washington summit and “agreed to continue direct dialogue”, the Azerbaijani foreign ministry said through Report.az at 08:16.
The EU Council adopts 2 years of duty-free entry for about 80% of Armenia’s exports, the only such regime for a country with neither candidate status nor a free-trade area with the EU
The Council of the European Union formally adopted on Thursday the temporary trade-liberalisation measures for Armenian goods, suspending import duties on about 80% of Armenia’s exports to the EU for 2 years from the day after the regulation’s publication in the Official Journal, Armenpress reported at 14:34. Ireland’s foreign minister Helen McEntee, for the presidency: “We are stepping up our support for Armenia and its people, who have clearly chosen a pro-European path in spite of foreign pressures. Today’s decision will help Armenia’s economy hit by trade restrictions”. Ani Badalyan, the foreign ministry’s spokeswoman, said Armenia becomes the only country that, “without EU candidate status or a Deep and Comprehensive Free Trade Area agreement with the EU, receives such an economic benefit”.
Azerbaijan drafts its 2027 to 2030 strategy on a 1.2% year, with $91 billion in reserve, 5.6% of GDP in debt and 8.8 billion manat for defence
The drafts of a new development strategy for 2027 to 2030 and of the second State Programme of the Great Return have been discussed at the Economic Council and presented to President Aliyev, Report.az wrote on Thursday at 15:44, quoting prime minister Ali Asadov, and the numbers around them describe the year the strategy is written in: growth of 1.2% in January to August, 2.1% outside oil and gas and a fall of 0.8% inside it, strategic currency reserves of about $91 billion, external state debt of $4.5 billion or 5.6% of projected GDP, a trade surplus above $10 billion in 8 months and inflation of 5.7%, with 5.3% forecast for 2027. Approval is expected in the coming months, Report.az wrote.
Erdoğan receives Pashinyan at Türkevi in New York, backs normalisation in trade and transport and invites him to the COP31 leaders’ summit
President Erdoğan received Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan at Türkevi in New York on Wednesday, with foreign minister Hakan Fidan beside him, and told him Türkiye supported “the normalisation process in bilateral trade and transport”, welcomed “reciprocal steps in the peace process between Azerbaijan and Armenia” and invited him to the COP31 leaders’ summit Türkiye will host, Hürriyet reported at 20:27 Istanbul time. Armenia’s side went into the meeting saying it “looks forward to border opening, launch of rail connectivity with Türkiye”, Armenpress reported at midday, and came out of it, in Arka’s headline, with both sides seeing a need to “stimulate trade and economic ties”.
The ADB and the EBRD publish their autumn forecasts a day apart: Central Asia and Mongolia grow 5.8% on one count while the Caucasus slips on the other
The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development put Central Asia and Mongolia at 5.8% growth in 2026 and 5.3% in 2027 in its Regional Economic Prospects published on Thursday: Kyrgyzstan 8.7% this year, Tajikistan 7.9%, Uzbekistan 7.5%, Mongolia and Turkmenistan 6.3%, Kazakhstan 4.7%. The Asian Development Bank’s September Outlook, published on Wednesday, raised Uzbekistan to 7.0% from 6.7% after an 8.5% first half and Georgia to 6.3% from 5.5%, cut Tajikistan to 7.0% from 7.3% and Azerbaijan to 1.6% from 2.0%, and left Kazakhstan at 4.8%, Kyrgyzstan at 8.9%, Turkmenistan at 6.3%, Armenia at 5.0% and Mongolia at 5.7%. Its subregion, the Caucasus and Central and West Asia, slips to 3.7% for 2026 and 4.1% for 2027, a tenth of a point down on July on both years.
Pashinyan says Armenia is talking to 5 countries about a new nuclear plant, with Rosatom’s 1,200 MW study already in Yerevan and Metsamor’s life running to 2026
Armenia is negotiating with the United States, Russia, China, France and South Korea over a new nuclear power plant and “is looking for the best offer to start construction”, Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan said at a panel of the Concordia summit in New York, Arka reported on Wednesday at 14:27. Metsamor supplies up to 40% of the country’s electricity, its operating life has been extended to 2026 and work is under way on a further extension of 10 years; a preliminary feasibility study by Rosatom for a new 1,200 MW unit is already before the Armenian side, and the plan is to build the new plant within 8 to 10 years.
Georgia and China discuss a joint transport working group with Anaklia as the cornerstone and $7 billion of Georgian infrastructure money to 2032
Economy minister Mariam Kvrivishvili met China’s transport minister Liu Wei to discuss a joint working group across rail, sea, road and civil aviation, with the Anaklia deep-sea port placed “as a cornerstone infrastructure project for the Middle Corridor”, the ministry said in an account bm.ge carried on Wednesday at 13:15. Kvrivishvili put about $7 billion on Georgia’s infrastructure through 2032, and the ministry names the targets: to double the capacity of the maritime and rail networks and to triple airport throughput. The sides discussed direct routes from Tbilisi to Beijing and Guangzhou and cited the initiative adopted at the Global Sustainable Transport Forum in Beijing to raise the capacity, reliability and competitiveness of the Trans-Caspian route.
Azerenerji signs a $58.6 million turnkey contract with Turkey’s YEO for 250 MWh of batteries, financed by local banks over 4 years
Azerenerji, the state power company, has signed a contract with YEO Teknoloji Enerji ve Endüstri of Turkey for a battery energy-storage system of 250 MWh, worth $58.6 million on an EPC-F basis under which the contractor designs, procures, builds and arranges the financing, Report carried from Turkish media on Tuesday. YEO’s disclosure to the Istanbul exchange on Monday says local banks finance the project with a 4-year repayment term, construction starts shortly and the system is to be commissioned within a year, with the batteries made by REAP Battery, the group’s own company. It follows 2 systems totalling 500 MWh that YEO commissioned in Azerbaijan in the second quarter under contracts signed in 2025.
Aliyev weighs a 5.3 billion manat mining programme to 2030 that must first re-count reserves last measured 40 years ago
President Ilham Aliyev chaired a meeting on Tuesday on the draft State Programme for the development of the mining and metallurgical industry for 2027 to 2030, AZERTAC reported at 14:35. Economy minister Mikayil Jabbarov put the investment at 5.3 billion manats over the 4 years, 1.1 billion from the state budget, 2.2 billion from state companies and 2 billion from private funds, with the sector’s contribution to GDP to rise from 700 million to 1.8 billion manats and its exports from 1.3 billion to 3.4 billion by 2030. The president’s own condition came before the targets: the reserve figures date from Soviet times, about 40 years ago, and are out of date.
Armenia’s parties have until Friday to register for the 25 October local elections, the last scheduled vote before the 2027 parliament is chosen
The Central Electoral Commission closed nominations on Monday for the local elections of 25 October and set 25 September as the registration deadline, Armenpress reported. Party lists will be voted in Artashat, Armavir, Gavar, Hrazdan, Goris, Meghri, Ijevan, Dilijan and other towns; Fioletovo and Shamiram vote by majority. Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan used the evening’s independence-day address on Republic Square to name “the durability of the state” the country’s principal task and to ask citizens to strengthen it “with education, work and taxes paid”.
London’s war-risk list now covers the whole Black Sea, and the open water off Georgia’s ports is inside it
The Joint War Committee’s circular of 16 September lists the Black Sea “excluding territorial waters of adjoining countries other than Russia and Ukraine”; until then, in the Black Sea, the London market listed the coastal waters of Russia and Ukraine. Dunya, the Turkish business daily, puts war-risk premiums at 1% to 1.5% of a ship’s insured value, against 0.1% to 0.2% in normal conditions, which can add $150,000 to $300,000 to a 7-day voyage. The new line crosses routes that call at neither belligerent’s ports: KazTransOil, which owns the Batumi oil terminal, sent 293,000 tonnes of cargo toward that port in August.
A Tbilisi appeal court swaps a 5-year sentence in the '4 October' case for 1 year and a plea; Kobakhidze says repentance is the price of release
The Tbilisi Court of Appeal on Friday approved a procedural agreement between prosecutors and Nikoloz Gventsadze, a marketing specialist and former lecturer at the Georgian Institute of Public Affairs who was convicted in May of attempting to seize a strategic facility and of group violence during the 4 October 2025 attempt to storm the presidential palace: his 5-year sentence becomes 1 year in prison and 3 suspended, and he leaves prison in early October, NewsGeorgia reported. The same afternoon Prime Minister Irakli Kobakhidze told journalists in Batumi that Georgia has no prisoners of conscience and that the state is ready to forgive "each of them, if there is repentance and admission on their part".
The Black Sea drone war reaches the Danube: a Turkish-owned freighter's captain is killed in the Bystre canal as Moscow claims cargo ships hit on 5 of the last 6 days
The Mariam M, a Tanzanian-flagged general cargo ship in the fleet of UBSM Shipping of Mersin, was hit by a drone in the Bystre canal of the Danube delta on Thursday morning on its way to load wheat at Reni. Ukraine's infrastructure ministry says the captain was killed and 3 crew wounded; Turkish maritime outlets put the dead at 2 and the wounded at 13. Russia's defence ministry, which names no ships, has claimed strikes on cargo vessels in Odesa, Chornomorsk and at sea on the Izmail approach on 5 of the last 6 days, on CAW's count of its statements.
Pashinyan's government drafts the Trump route company's charter the day after the court's ruling; Iran's ambassador asks Yerevan for a standing channel on the route
Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan chaired a meeting on Thursday on the legal and contractual package of the TRIPP Development Company, its charter and the draft shareholder agreement, his office said, and discussions in that format will continue. The same evening Iran's ambassador, Khalil Shirgholami, said in remarks Armenia Today and NEWS.am reported that a joint institutionalised mechanism with Armenia's government would be the best way to address Tehran's concern about an American presence on the Armenia-Iran border.
Pashinyan calls the “Western Azerbaijan” narrative a threat to the peace and puts Kyarki inside 29,743 square kilometres; Shoigu declares Moscow’s crisis with Baku over
At a security conference in Yerevan on Thursday the Armenian prime minister named the “Western Azerbaijan” narrative a serious challenge and a threat to Armenia’s security, and drew the state’s border by the Soviet republic’s 29,743 square kilometres, with the Azerbaijani enclaves outside it and Artsvashen inside. In Moscow the same day Russia’s Security Council secretary said the crisis with Baku had been overcome by joint effort and that Russia “is not ready and will not finance” Armenia’s European integration.
A Chinese bidder's 100 MW solar plant opens at Pirsaat; Baku's agencies call it the first project awarded by auction
Universal International Holdings Limited won the site in 2024. The plant in Baku's Garadagh district is to produce about 200 million kilowatt-hours a year and save 45 million cubic metres of gas. Azeri Light printed at $128.03 the same morning.
A Tbilisi court gives Georgia's former security chief 13 years for bribes as parliament seats the fourth head of his old service
Grigol Liluashvili, who ran the State Security Service from October 2019 to April 2025, was convicted of taking bribes in an especially large amount as a group on all four episodes of the indictment, under article 338 of the Criminal Code, which carries 11 to 15 years. He denies the charges.
Pashinyan tells parliament the Trump route runs from Azerbaijan's border to Azerbaijan's border, and Armenia decides at the gates
On the day the Constitutional Court cleared the TRIPP agreement, the prime minister spent the government hour answering Baku's description of the route and Moscow's description of the price of Europe. He conceded the geography, kept the jurisdiction and moved the base question to Putin.