Category: Azer News

While oil prices hog the headlines and gas only gets a mention when winter rolls around, a far more important metal has been quietly flying under the radar – copper. Once we look at the bigger picture, the scale of copper demand becomes hard to ignore. And yet it is copper, right now, that will decide how the whole “green energy” story ends. An electric vehicle requires roughly 80 kilograms of copper, compared with around 20 kilograms in a conventional car. Solar panels, charging stations and new power transmission lines stretching across entire regions all require copper.

Just a couple of days ago, Kirill Dmitriev, Russia’s presidential envoy for investment and economic cooperation and head of the RDIF, wrote on his X account that copper’s investment appeal has climbed to the level of gold. In his view, “copper is becoming the new gold.”

The statement came against the backdrop of a sharp rise in copper prices. In mid-September, three-month copper futures on the London Metal Exchange (LME) climbed above $14,800 per metric ton. On Comex, the price rose to $6.9285 per pound, hitting an all-time high.

For that matter, copper has been on a tear for three years running. In the past year alone the metal has climbed 47%.

On top of that, a large volume of copper was shipped into the United States this year in anticipation of President Donald Trump’s decision to slap tariffs on imports of the metal. That drew down copper stocks in the warehouses the London Metal Exchange tracks around the world. Buyers in China also stepped up their activity, sharpening the competition for supply. At the same time, ore at the old copper deposits is steadily running thin.

Prices are climbing even as the metal sits in surplus. By the reckoning of the International Copper Study Group (ICSG), world output of refined copper in the first five months of 2026 rose by about 3% year on year, to 12.05 million tonnes. Consumption over the same stretch grew 2.2%, to 11.58 million tonnes. That means the market surplus in January-May jumped 89% against the same period a year earlier – from 117,000 tonnes to 221,000 tonnes.

Copper is one of the most significant materials for the transition to green energy. Because it is a very efficient conduit, it is utilized in renewable energy systems all around the world to generate power from solar, hydro, thermal, and wind. Copper reduces CO2 emissions and lowers the amount of energy required to generate power. Many renewable energy systems include six times as much copper as typical systems. It is one of the few materials that can be recycled repeatedly without losing performance.

Renewable energy sources account for roughly one-quarter of global power generation, and copper plays a crucial role in making it as efficient as possible while minimizing environmental damage. As the demand for green energy grows, so does the importance of copper, which has a direct impact on copper market prices. So, if the world wants to fully switch to “green” energy, then by 2050 it will need to extract four times more copper than it does today. According to a study by researchers from the University of Michigan published in the journal Energy Research and Social Science, with a full-scale transition to clean energy, global copper prices could double.

Is copper really the new gold?

In terms of how its value has moved, copper can indeed be likened to gold, which has itself surged over the past three years. But that is where the resemblance between the two metals ends. Gold is primarily a financial asset and a reserve held by central banks around the world. Copper, by contrast, is an essential industrial metal. Modern economies cannot expand their power systems or digital infrastructure without it.

What exactly is driving copper prices

The rise of artificial intelligence has become one of the most powerful engines of copper demand. Data centers, especially those built for AI, devour colossal amounts of copper, not only for power cables and transformers but for cooling systems, busways and circuit boards. Energy is an additional incentive, as new power plants and networks are being built to power these data centers.

The run-up in copper prices may also owe something to geopolitics. Take the Strait of Hormuz, through which an enormous volume of goods passes. According to the International Energy Agency, roughly half the world’s seaborne trade in sulphur moves through Hormuz. Sulphur is used to make sulphuric acid, which figures, among other things, in certain copper-extraction technologies. The IEA ties disruptions to sulphur supplies in 2026 to rising production costs for a range of critical minerals. In other words, the threat to supply can surface well before the finished metal ever reaches a ship. A hiccup in the necessary raw materials is enough.

The trade rivalry between China and the United States throws in yet another reason to build up stockpiles: companies may be looking to shield their production from future restrictions. Companies are increasingly looking to build up copper inventories as they prepare for possible tariffs and other trade barriers. The United States has already taken steps to reduce its reliance on imported copper, while China remains one of the world’s biggest consumers of the metal. That puts additional pressure on global supplies and encourages companies to secure copper before potential restrictions disrupt trade flows.

Washington has formally reclassified copper as a strategic material. A Section 232 investigation brought copper, concentrates, scrap and derivatives into the orbit of national security. The aim is to cut dependence on imports. Against that backdrop, the COMEX premium over the LME has stopped being a mere price signal. It is the mechanism by which the American market pulls free volumes of refined copper onto its own shores.

According to Trading Economics, global copper mine production could decline this year for the first time since 2017. Supply disruptions, declining ore grades and weaker output in Chile are all expected to weigh on production.

Global identified copper resources are estimated at between 830 million and 1 billion tonnes, depending on the methodology and source.

As of 2026, the countries with the largest reported copper reserves include:

Chile – 180 million tonnes

Australia – 100 million tonnes

Peru – 85 million tonnes

Russia – 80 million tonnes

Democratic Republic of the Congo – 80 million tonnes

Mexico – 53 million tonnes

United States – 47 million tonnes

China – 41 million tonnes

About 23 million tonnes of copper are mined each year. S and P Global forecasts that by 2040 world copper consumption will rise by 50%. At the same time, the supply shortfall could exceed 10 million tonnes a year — roughly a quarter of expected demand. Put plainly, mining simply will not keep pace with demand. And as experts warn, the picture is unlikely to change in the coming years. The reason is that anywhere from 10 to 30 years pass between discovery and the launch of a mine, and new projects will not deliver any noticeable gain before 2030.

Oil and gas may continue to dominate the energy headlines, but the next stage of the energy transition will depend on a much quieter market. Copper may not be the new gold, but it could prove just as important to the way the global economy develops over the next two decades.

From the point of view of Azerbaijan’s political elite, not all borders that are potentially dangerous are those which appear on the map. In the era of modern technology, such borders can pass right through screens, media channels, universities and various alternative narratives through which a particular society understands its history. This was one of the key conclusions that could be made from the speech of President Ilham Aliyev at the eighth congress of the New Azerbaijan Party (YAP). But even this paragraph understates the hour-long congress.

The congress was the first held since Azerbaijan restored its occupied territories. The question before Azerbaijan was no longer how the state might eventually recover what it had lost, but what kind of state should emerge after that objective had been achieved.

In President Aliyev’s case, this means that he drew a clear line back to the political groundwork laid down over three decades ago. In his view, both the triumphs of 2020 and 2023 were not merely military victories but rather culminations of a much larger process of state formation which had been started when Azerbaijan itself was politically and economically vulnerable. ‘The date of the start of our victories is the congress of the New Azerbaijan Party,’ he stated, alluding to the founding of the party in Nakhchivan in November 1992.

That historical argument matters because it leads directly into the doctrine Aliyev set out for the period ahead. Whereas the first challenge in gaining independence was the formation of a state and the second one, restoration of its territorial integrity, the challenge posed in Baku now is the preservation of sovereignty in an entirely different sphere. Borders may be secured by means of armed forces and modern technologies. The information space cannot be protected. It was here that Aliyev shifted from the history of victory to what he described as one of the central vulnerabilities of the modern state: ideological security.

This argument goes all the way back to the turbulence of the early days of independence. Azerbaijan began the 1990s in a climate of war, political upheavals, institutional weakness, and struggle over where the new country would be going. Within the story of politics, this was also an era when different outside forces found sympathetic networks within society, media, and the world of ideas. The counter-response represented by Heydar Aliyev was not just bureaucratic reorganization, rather, it was the formation of a political ideology: Azerbaijanism, designed to elevate the values of statehood, national unity, and autonomy from foreign ideological commitments.

‘Naturally, as the years go by, tactical and even strategic goals adapt to a certain extent, but the core course remains unchanged: independence, statehood, economic independence, strong military potential, and the ability to maximize the use of our own capabilities.’ – Ilham Aliyev at the 8th YAP Congress.

That sentence is perhaps the most concise description of the continuity the government wants to project.

The methods have changed, but the underlying idea remains the same. During the 1990s, the pressing requirements were preventing state collapse, encouraging foreign investment, and setting up working institutions. This was followed by efforts at military reform, economic reserves, and re-establishing territorial control. The current stage of this policy has been moved into the world of information.

The President placed ‘ideological security’ alongside physical security, arguing that technological change has made older ideas of borders inadequate. The internet, cyberattacks and artificial intelligence allow influence to travel without territory, armies or formal political representation. In that environment, the state’s concern is not merely hostile messaging but the possibility that external actors can cultivate domestic dependency, shape political language and exploit social divisions from afar.

‘Ideological security is just as important as physical security, because ideological provocation is directed at the interior of the country.’

The suggested first line of defense turned out to be a very traditional one: education. ‘The more educated, knowledgeable, and literate our people are,’ Aliyev said, ‘the less they will succumb to these lies, rumors, and poisonous ideological provocations.’ The second component of this defense line consisted in patriotism. According to the president, the 44-day war confirmed the power of national solidarity: a united society with a single goal would resist any external pressure and strive for the interests of the state.

This is why the same rationale is applied to the very pointed discussion of Azerbaijani-language media working outside the country. Here, Aliyev described these as tools which may be used in attempts to interfere in Azerbaijan from the outside in order to undermine internal cohesion and keep Azerbaijan on an independent path. In the framework of the doctrine developed at the congress, however, the distinction made here is quite clear.

The solution that has been provided by the state is not supposed to be merely propaganda for the sake of propaganda itself. According to Ilham Aliyev, party members should give up clichés and formality and make their claims without any myths or exaggeration of the past. The task is to present their arguments within the context of media which has more sources, more skepticism and shorter attention span than before.

The economic throughline

The speech’s economic sections returned repeatedly to the theme of self-funded independence. “Whatever we acquired, we purchased with money,” Mr Aliyev said of the country’s military buildup. “That includes all weapons, which were bought with money at world prices, down to the last bullet.” He added that foreign suppliers had, in his account, never extended favourable terms: “Not once were we granted a single manat or single dollar discount. In fact, sometimes they sold to us at prices several times higher than the world market rate.”

That same emphasis carried into the broader economic picture he presented to the congress. Foreign exchange reserves, he said, have reached $90bn, “approximately 20 times more than our external debt,” which he noted stands at just 5.6% of GDP, among the lowest ratios globally. Investment contracts signed at the country’s two International Investment Forums now exceed $20bn in total, drawing participation from institutions managing over $30 trillion in combined assets. On foreign policy, he pointed to Azerbaijan’s expanding web of partnerships, strategic declarations with ten EU member states, and, in the past year alone, a comprehensive strategic partnership with China and a Strategic Charter with the United States, as evidence of a country operating independently of any single patron. “We do not join any camp and will not join one,” he said. “We do not need to.”

Now, for the government’s ruling party, the early 1990s disturbances, the rise of Heydar Aliyev, state building, victories in Garabagh, and contemporary geopolitical balancing represent a continuum of history. It asks its citizens to see current controversies about media, education, and foreign influences not as separate policy issues, but as the latest chapter in an earlier conflict over national self-determination.

That is why, more than three decades after independence, the question has shifted from how to build a sovereign state to how to preserve one. In the government’s telling, the challenge is no longer confined to territory or military power. It extends into economics, information, and the ability of a society to withstand pressure from beyond its borders. The battlefield may have evolved, but the fundamental idea remains the same: political sovereignty is viable only when the state feels militarily capable, economically secure, and intellectually empowered enough to say ‘no.’

Azerbaijan directed more than three-quarters of its fixed capital investment to the non-oil and gas sector in 2025, although investment declined in both the energy and non-energy segments compared with the previous year.

Fixed capital investment in the non-oil and gas sector amounted to 16.358 billion manats (approximately $9.62 billion) during the year.

Meanwhile, 5.380 billion manats (approximately $3.17 billion) was invested in the oil and gas sector.

Combined, the two sectors attracted approximately 21.738 billion manats ($12.79 billion) in fixed capital investment in 2025.

The non-oil and gas sector accounted for 75.3% of the total, compared with 24.7% for the oil and gas industry, highlighting the dominant role of non-energy activities in Azerbaijan’s capital investment structure.

Despite its larger share, investment in the non-oil and gas sector decreased by 1% year-on-year in comparable prices.

The contraction was considerably sharper in the oil and gas sector, where fixed capital investment fell by 9.6% compared with 2024.

The non-oil and gas economy also dominated investment allocated to construction and installation works.

Some 13.535 billion manats (approximately $7.96 billion) was spent on construction and installation in the non-oil and gas sector during 2025.

By comparison, expenditure on such works in the oil and gas sector amounted to 2.705 billion manats (approximately $1.59 billion).

Together, construction and installation expenditure across the two sectors reached approximately 16.240 billion manats ($9.55 billion).

Kremlin Press Secretary Dmitry Peskov warned on Monday that Ukraine will pay a price after President Volodymyr Zelensky said Ukrainian forces will intensify attacks on Russian oil refineries.

“It was the Ukrainian side, it was the Kyiv regime, that expanded the list of targets in the peaceful economy of the Russian Federation,” Peskov said at a press briefing. “What our armed forces are doing now is retaliation for this,” he pointed out.

The Russian Defense Ministry announced the day before that it will scale up attacks on military and military-industrial targets in Ukraine following Zelensky’s statements.

Francesca Albanese, the UN special rapporteur on the occupied Palestinian territory, has rejected claims by the Israeli military that 170 journalists killed by its forces in the Gaza Strip were members of armed groups.

Albanese said there was ‘not a shred of evidence’ to support allegations that the journalists had participated in military activities.

Her remarks came in response to an Israeli military statement saying an investigation had concluded that individuals who had ‘claimed to be journalists’ were ‘actually terrorists belonging to Hamas, Islamic Jihad, and other terrorist organisations in Gaza.’

The Israeli military’s allegation concerns journalists killed during its military operations in the Gaza Strip.

Albanese disputed the findings, saying there was ‘zero’ evidence demonstrating that those identified by Israel had participated in military activities.

‘As Western media starts its due diligence, Apartheid ‘Israel’ escalates disinformation,’ Albanese wrote on X.

‘The army has even a ‘legitimization cell’ fabricating stories to justify genocide. My next report exposes it all,’ she added.

Albanese’s references to ‘apartheid,’ ‘disinformation’ and ‘genocide’ reflect her characterization of Israeli policies and military conduct. Israel has repeatedly rejected accusations that its operations in Gaza constitute genocide and maintains that its military campaign targets Hamas and other armed groups rather than journalists or civilians as such.

The Moldovan government is working to complete the technical preparations for EU membership negotiations by the beginning of 2028, with the goal of being fully prepared to join the European Union by 2030.

Moldovan Prime Minister Vasile Tofan made the statement following a meeting of the Moldova-EU Association Council in Brussels on October 5.

According to Moldovan officials, the country aims to complete the accession negotiations by early 2028 and use the following period to finalize the necessary reforms and preparations for EU membership.

The prime minister noted that negotiation clusters 1 and 6 were opened for Moldova this summer. The government now intends to make progress on the remaining clusters and fulfill the necessary interim criteria as quickly as possible.

‘We are working to open the remaining clusters by the end of the year and to meet the interim criteria in a timely manner,’ Tofan said.

Moldova officially began its EU accession negotiations in 2024, marking a major step forward in its integration process. However, membership requires the country to align its legislation, institutions and economy with EU standards across a wide range of areas.

The accession process is divided into 35 negotiating chapters grouped into six clusters, covering areas such as the rule of law, the internal market, competitiveness, environmental policy, agriculture and regional development.

The timetable set by Chisinau is ambitious. Reaching the 2030 target will depend not only on Moldova’s ability to implement reforms, but also on the pace of negotiations and the approval of all EU member states.

If Moldova manages to maintain its current timetable, the country could become one of the next members of the European Union, alongside other candidate countries pursuing their own accession paths.

Russian authorities have introduced anti-epidemic measures in the Siberian region of Irkutsk following the death of a woman suspected of having contracted plague.

Irkutsk Governor Igor Kobzev said on Friday that he had met with the regional head of Rospotrebnadzor, Russia’s consumer rights and public health watchdog, to discuss what he described as ‘a suspected case of a regional resident with a particularly dangerous infection.’

The woman died on Friday in Shelekhov, a town on the outskirts of the city of Irkutsk, according to the regional outlet People of Baikal.

Local authorities subsequently imposed quarantine restrictions at the hospital where the suspected case was handled.

Shelekhov Mayor Maxim Modin said laboratory testing had been suspended at the facility, while the admission of new patients and discharge of those already receiving treatment had also been halted.

Russian authorities are ‘implementing a full range of anti-epidemic measures,’ Kobzev said.

An unspecified number of people have been placed under medical observation as authorities work to identify and monitor individuals who may have had contact with the deceased woman.

Local Russian media reported that around 200 people had so far been identified as possible contacts.

The authorities have not yet confirmed that the woman died from plague, and the case remains under investigation pending further testing.

Plague is a bacterial infectious disease caused by Yersinia pestis. Although historically associated with major epidemics, it is now treatable with antibiotics, particularly when diagnosed and treated at an early stage.

Major dredging work has begun at the Port of Aktau to improve the efficiency of cargo transportation along the Trans-Caspian International Transport Route [Middle Corridor].

According to Kazakhstan’s Ministry of Transport, the work is necessary due to the continued decline in the level of the Caspian Sea.

The project involves removing around 1.3 million cubic meters of soil, which is expected to increase the depth of the port’s water area to 6-7 meters.

The dredging is expected to boost cargo volumes along the Trans-Caspian International Transport Route by up to 30% and reduce the cost of maritime freight transportation by approximately 10-15%.

The project is also expected to attract investment in the development of port infrastructure and improve navigation safety.

The dredging works are scheduled to be completed by the end of 2026.

Earlier, it was reported that Kazakhstan would explore the possibility of constructing an oil pipeline across the Caspian Sea.

Russian Security Council Deputy Chairman Dmitry Medvedev has warned that Armenia’s growing orientation towards the West could have serious consequences, saying the ‘worst’ outcome would be for the South Caucasus country to become a ‘new Ukraine.’

Speaking to Iranian media, Medvedev argued that Western countries were seeking to test the strength of relations between Moscow and Yerevan as Armenia deepens its ties with the European Union.

According to the former Russian president, Armenia’s current leadership has deliberately chosen to pursue a different direction for the country’s development.

‘Armenia’s current leadership believes it is appropriate to change the direction of its development. I am sure that this will not lead to anything good either,’ Medvedev said.

He then invoked Ukraine as an example of the scenario that, in his view, Armenia should avoid.

‘The worst thing that could happen to Armenia is for it to turn into a new Ukraine,’ the Russian Security Council deputy chairman said.

The remarks come amid continued strains in relations between Moscow and Yerevan as the government of Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan seeks closer political and economic relations with the European Union while Armenia remains a member of the Russia-led Eurasian Economic Union (EAEU).

The issue produced a public disagreement between Russian President Vladimir Putin and Pashinyan during their meeting in Bishkek in September.

Putin acknowledged Armenia’s sovereign right to pursue closer relations with the EU but argued that eventual EU membership would be incompatible with remaining in the EAEU. He said Yerevan’s European ambitions risked undermining the economic advantages Armenia receives from the Eurasian bloc and disrupting established trade links.

Pashinyan countered that Armenia’s adoption of a law launching the process of seeking EU membership had not violated its existing obligations to either Russia or the EAEU.

‘We have analyzed the existing contractual framework between the Russian Federation and Armenia, as well as the existing contractual framework within the framework of the Eurasian Economic Union, both before and after that move, and, frankly, we have not found any violations of the obligations that Armenia has towards the Russian Federation and the Eurasian Economic Union,’ Pashinyan said.

At the same meeting, however, Pashinyan acknowledged that simultaneous membership of the EU and EAEU would ultimately not be possible and said Armenia would have to make a clear choice if and when EU membership became a realistic option.

Putin maintained that the law launching Armenia’s EU accession process was effectively an indication of withdrawal from the Eurasian integration project, telling Pashinyan that membership in both blocs was incompatible.

Moscow has continued to press that position. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said in late September that Russia respects Armenia’s sovereign rights but that Yerevan would eventually have to decide between the two integration systems because their rules and standards are incompatible.

Medvedev’s ‘new Ukraine’ warning therefore comes against the backdrop of a broader dispute over Armenia’s geopolitical orientation, as Yerevan attempts to expand its relationship with Europe while maintaining significant economic and institutional links with Russia.

President of the Republic of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev received the newly appointed Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of Malaysia to Azerbaijan, Aznifah Isnariah Binti Abdul Ghani, on October 5.

The ambassador presented her credentials to the head of state.

President Ilham Aliyev then held a conversation with the diplomat.

Noting the friendly and brotherly relations between the two countries, the head of state emphasized the importance of upgrading economic cooperation to the level of political ties, expanding cooperation in energy, investment, tourism, and other fields, and continuing a very active political dialogue. In this context, President Ilham Aliyev highlighted the role of mutual visits by delegations at various levels.

The President of Azerbaijan wished the ambassador success in her diplomatic mission.

The ambassador conveyed the greetings of His Majesty Sultan Ibrahim, King of Malaysia, and Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim, as well as their invitations to the head of state to visit Malaysia.

President Ilham Aliyev expressed gratitude for the greetings and asked the ambassador to convey his greetings to the King and Prime Minister of Malaysia. Expressing thanks for the invitation, the head of state noted that he would be pleased to accept it. President Ilham Aliyev, in turn, invited the King and Prime Minister of Malaysia to visit Azerbaijan.

Highlighting that relations between the two countries have remained at a very high level over many years, the ambassador stated that she would work diligently to further strengthen cooperation.

During the conversation, the sides exchanged views on the prospects of bilateral ties and emphasized the importance of mutual support within international organizations.

They discussed cooperation in tourism, including the mutual elimination of visa requirements to promote tourism and the establishment of direct air links between Azerbaijan and Malaysia.

Touching upon educational ties, the sides noted that Azerbaijani students study in Malaysia, while Malaysian students pursue education in Azerbaijan under scholarship programs provided by the Azerbaijani government.