Azerbaijani Foreign Minister Jeyhun Bayramov at the UN General Assembly podium. Azerbaijan will do everything to ensure the success of the November UN Climate Conference in Baku UN
Azerbaijan is actively working to ensure that the participants of the 29th climate conference, which will be held in Baku in November, agree on the final documents of the forum, including a landmark agreement on climate financing. This was stated by Azerbaijani Foreign Minister Jeyhun Bayramov during the general debates of the 79th session of the UN General Assembly.
Problem of the century
“Growing disagreements in international relations should not distract us from the need to combat climate change, the greatest transnational problem of the century,” the minister emphasized. He recalled that the measures taken so far are not capable of keeping the increase in global temperature within 1.5 °C, and called on all countries to step up their efforts to implement the Paris Agreement on climate change.
COP 29 Presidency
He promised that, as the COP 29 chair, Azerbaijan would do everything to ensure the conference was a success. In addition to climate finance, the agenda also included the issue of carbon markets. (Carbon markets are trading systems in which emission rights are bought and sold. This is a market-based approach to controlling greenhouse gas emissions – editor’s note)
The minister also said that Azerbaijan had put forward an initiative to establish a ceasefire for the duration of the conference. “We call on everyone to overcome political differences, show unity and observe the ceasefire during the month of COP 29,” Bayramov said.
Supporter of international cooperation
Azerbaijan continues to provide support to developing countries in need, noted speaker. According to him, since 2020, Azerbaijan has provided humanitarian, economic and technical assistance worth $330 million to more than 140 countries.
“Green” growth
A clean environment and “green” growth have become one of the five priority areas of the country’s new national development strategy. “Azerbaijan is exploring ways to further reduce greenhouse gas emissions, and also plans to create green energy zones and achieve carbon neutrality in the Karabakh and East Zangezur regions by 2050,” the speaker said.
The projected increase in electricity production from renewable sources in the coming years will allow Azerbaijan to export “green” electricity to European countries via the trans-regional Black Sea Submarine Cable.
Peace with Armenia
“The end of the armed conflict with Armenia and the restoration of Azerbaijan’s sovereignty and territorial integrity have created a significantly new situation in the South Caucasus,” Bayramov noted. For the first time in decades, stability has been achieved “on the ground” and de facto peace has been established.
According to the minister, over the past year, Azerbaijan and Armenia have made significant progress in the process of normalizing relations through direct bilateral negotiations, in particular, in the area of developing a bilateral agreement, delimitation and demarcation of the state border, as well as developing a set of measures to strengthen trust.
“Our commitment and determination on this issue remain unwavering, and we intend to bring this process to its logical conclusion,” Bayramov said, calling on Armenia to “once and for all” legally renounce its territorial claims against Azerbaijan.
He also spoke about Azerbaijan’s large-scale post-conflict rehabilitation efforts aimed at allowing hundreds of thousands of Azerbaijanis to return to their homelands.