Azerbaijan’s capital, Baku, has hosted the International Carpet Festival for the second time, with this year’s event opening with discussions on challenges facing the global carpet industry.
International experts, industry representatives and artists attended the 2026 forum, where participants discussed innovations in the sector and explored ways to bring traditional methods to new international markets.
According to the UN COMTRADE database on international trade, Azerbaijan exported around $139,000 worth of carpets and other textile floor coverings in 2025, with the U.S. and China among its major markets.
The festival is co-organised by Azerkhalcha, an Azerbaijani organisation dedicated to preserving traditional carpet-weaving techniques, and the administration of the Icherisheher Reserve, Baku’s UNESCO World Heritage site.
It is supported by Azerbaijan’s Ministry of Economy and the Export and Investment Promotion Agency, which aims to promote Azerbaijani carpet weaving internationally.
Rüfət Mahmud, Chairman of the Icherisheher State Historical Reserve, said he was looking forward to the rest of the festival.
"We have different pavilions and the whole city, the whole inner city actually covered in the carpet. Our team is entirely ready and [the] next two days we will be there. This will be the real holiday, the carpet holiday all around the whole city of Baku,” he said.
Chairman of Azerkhalcha, Emin Mammadov, told the opening ceremony of the festival on Friday that the event provided an important platform for discussions about carpet weaving.
He added that participants from Morocco, Nepal, Türkiye, Kyrgyzstan, and Uzbekistan, among other countries, would exchange views on promoting carpet art in international markets.
Belgian textile artist Laurine Malengro is exhibiting her show Souls in Motion at the Baku Photography House during the festival.
"I'm working a very rare technique of Nuna silk, it's a mix of wool and silk, and I'm an artist working worldwide, so I'm doing wool hangings and textile painting, mainly," she said.
Tarek Sadiq, CEO of Maison de l’Artisan, a Moroccan organisation that promotes the country’s handicrafts, was among the industry experts attending the event.
He said that sharing ideas across different fields was important to promote handicrafts and support artisans.
Victoria Romero, Mexico’s Ambassador to Azerbaijan, also attended and remarked on the parallels between Mexican and Azerbaijani carpet culture.
“I've seen previous festivals and it's just incredible how this culture of carpets is embedded in the normal life of Azerbaijan and the region. And having here a small taste of what we have, in Mexico, is an example of how this culture develops."
The International Carpet Festival will run until 3 May.
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