Azerbaijan signs Memorandum with BlackRock and GIP in Davos

President Ilham Aliyev announced the signing of a Memorandum of Intent between SOFAZ, BlackRock and Global Infrastructure Partners in Davos.

• Main announcement: The Memorandum of Intent commits SOFAZ to consider capital commitments of up to $1.5 billion over the next 3–4 years into infrastructure funds managed by GIP and into joint investment opportunities; it explicitly targets potential investments in data centers, regional cloud and artificial intelligence infrastructure, and airport infrastructure leveraging GIP’s operational expertise.
• Background and meeting details: The memorandum formalizes continuing the existing partnership within a long-term strategic framework, with the cooperation to include assessments of infrastructure assets in or related to Azerbaijan and potential joint investments. Meeting participants included Ilham Aliyev, Larry Fink (BlackRock CEO) and Adebayo Ogunlesi (GIP); a ceremony to exchange the Memorandum took place.
  • Date: 20 January 2026
  • Location: Davos, Switzerland
  • Agenda/subject: Signing Memorandum of Intent between SOFAZ, BlackRock and GIP; exploring infrastructure investment opportunities (data centers, cloud/AI, airports).