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.
Türkiye's World Cup campaign came to a painful end on Friday as they suffered a 1-0 defeat to Paraguay despite dominating large parts of their Group ...
Bolivian President Rodrigo Paz declared a state of emergency early on Saturday, escalating a blockade crisis that has paralysed parts of the country a...
A senior aide to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has said he will return a Polish state honour in protest, after Poland’s president stripped...
Morocco captain and PSG defender Achraf Hakimi will face trial in France after an appeals court ruled there was enough evidence for the case to procee...
Wildfires in Russia’s Krasnoyarsk region have grown significantly, with the affected area increasing by more than 6,000 hectares in just 24 hours to...
Veteran business leader, diplomat and board adviser, Mehmet Öğütçü, reflects on more than four decades of hiring and leadership experience, offering practical advice to graduates and young professionals navigating an increasingly competitive labour market.
Documentary filmmaker Mikael Silkeberg has said that making a film exploring connections between Scandinavia and Azerbaijan helped him better understand his own mixed Nordic identity.
Three flags, one training ground and a clear message: defence cooperation in the South Caucasus remains firmly on track. Elite special operations units from Georgia, Türkiye and Azerbaijan have gathered in Mukhrovani for the latest edition of the Caucasian Eagle military exercise.
France has continued activities that undermine the Azerbaijan-Armenia peace process, including espionage and information campaigns targeting Baku, according to Azerbaijan’s State Commission Against Foreign Interference and Hybrid Threats.
One person was killed and dozens injured after two passenger trains collided near Bedford in central England on Friday, prompting a major emergency response, British Transport Police said.
Israel and Hezbollah have agreed to a ceasefire, a senior U.S. official has said. Hezbollah has released a statement saying Israel must leave southern Lebanon. Israel has said it agrees to the ceasefire, but has said its armed forces won't leave Lebanon and will resume hostilities if attacked.
U.S. President Donald Trump sought a deal with Iran "out of deperation," Iranian Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei has said, in a statement on social media. Khamenei added that he himself "held a different view," to Trump, but allowed the agreement after receiving assurances from Iran's President.
Russia's defence ministry says its forces have captured the village of Yurkivka in Ukraine's eastern Donetsk region, according to the Interfax news agency. The claim could not be independently verified.
Jorge Messi, the father of football star Lionel Messi, is under medical supervision and is "progressing favourably" while recovering from an undisclosed health condition, according to a family statement.
Russia is seeking to expand cooperation with Central Asian countries in the exploration, extraction and processing of rare earth metals, underlining the region's growing importance in the global race for critical raw materials.
Pakistan has emerged as a key intermediary in U.S.-Iran diplomacy after months of shuttle talks, draft revisions and regional coordination involving Gulf states and China. An interim understanding has been reached, but officials warn the most difficult phase of negotiations still lies ahead.
The United States is working with Qatar on a plan that could give Iran access to billions of dollars in frozen funds for humanitarian purchases, The Wall Street Journal reported, citing people familiar with the matter.
Israel and Hezbollah have agreed to a ceasefire, a senior U.S. official has said. Hezbollah has released a statement saying Israel must leave southern Lebanon. Israel has said it agrees to the ceasefire, but has said its armed forces won't leave Lebanon and will resume hostilities if attacked.
Georgian Prime Minister Irakli Kobakhidze arrived in Dushanbe on 19 June 2026 for the first official visit by a Georgian head of government to Tajikistan, concluding a trip that produced a joint communiqué, multiple bilateral agreements and a new commission to deepen economic cooperation.
You can download the AnewZ application from Play Store and the App Store.
What is your opinion on this topic?
Leave the first comment