Cooperation between Azerbaijan and the Islamic Development Bank (IsDB) is entering a new stage, political analyst Azer Garayev told Trend, citing the 2026 Annual Meetings of the IsDB Group held in Baku as a key milestone. President Ilham Aliyev’s opening speech emphasized the mutual trust underlying the partnership, noting that since Azerbaijan joined the bank in 1992, approximately $1.8 billion has been approved for 84 projects spanning transport, energy, agriculture, and social infrastructure. The analyst stressed that Azerbaijan’s hosting of the meetings for the second time, after 2010, reflects the deepening strategic ties beyond mere financial cooperation.