diff --git a/autogen/oai/client.py b/autogen/oai/client.py
index 70a28e15ed60..5d9c61300422 100644
--- a/autogen/oai/client.py
+++ b/autogen/oai/client.py
@@ -11,7 +11,7 @@
 from autogen.token_count_utils import count_token
 
 try:
-    from openai import OpenAI, APIError
+    from openai import OpenAI, APIError, AzureOpenAI
     from openai.types.chat import ChatCompletion
     from openai.types.chat.chat_completion import ChatCompletionMessage, Choice
     from openai.types.completion import Completion
@@ -137,7 +137,19 @@ def _client(self, config, openai_config):
         """
         openai_config = {**openai_config, **{k: v for k, v in config.items() if k in self.openai_kwargs}}
         self._process_for_azure(openai_config, config)
-        client = OpenAI(**openai_config)
+
+        # TODO: move this to _process_for_azure and rewrite it
+        if config.get("api_type", "").startswith("azure"):
+            azure_config = config.copy()
+            if azure_config.get("model"):
+                azure_config["azure_deployment"] = config.get("model").replace("gpt-3.5", "gpt-35")
+                azure_config.pop("model")
+            azure_config["azure_endpoint"] = config.get("base_url")
+            azure_config.pop("base_url")
+            config.pop("api_type")
+            client = AzureOpenAI(**config)
+        else:
+            client = OpenAI(**openai_config)
         return client
 
     @classmethod