Building a Single Payment Corridor for the Turkic World | Edgar Abdullayev, AzFina

FT Finansal Teknoloji spoke with Edgar Abdullayev, Chairman of the Azerbaijan Fintech Association (AzFina), during the Silk Road Forum 2026 in Tashkent about the future of cross-border fintech cooperation across the Turkic World.

Towards a single payment corridor

Abdullayev outlined a vision in which users could access and use their financial accounts across Türkiye, Azerbaijan, Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan with fewer barriers.

The model would require greater interoperability between payment systems, closer regulatory coordination and stronger alignment in KYC, AML and compliance frameworks.

He also highlighted the potential for common regulatory sandboxes to support the testing and development of new cross-border financial products.

Azerbaijan as a regional fintech bridge

Abdullayev described Azerbaijan’s geographic position between Türkiye, Central Asia, the Caucasus and Europe as an important advantage for the development of cross-border financial services.

According to Abdullayev, the next stage is to translate this position into stronger financial and technological connectivity while helping Azerbaijani fintech companies expand into international markets and develop new partnerships.

The 2030 vision

Looking ahead to 2030, Abdullayev said the objective should be to make payments between Turkic countries:

“Cheap, fast and easy, as if it were a domestic payment.”

The long-term ambition is to develop a connected financial ecosystem that supports cross-border payments, money transfers and eventually broader B2B financial activity across the Turkic World.