On July 22-23, the third informal Shamakhi Meeting was held in the city of Shamakhi, organized and hosted by Azerbaijan, in cooperation with Turkey and Australia, which hold the COP31 presidency, with the participation of chairs of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) negotiation groups and heads of delegations from a number of states party to the UNFCCC.
Regarding this, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs informed elchi that more than 70 representatives from 34 countries and the UNFCCC Secretariat participated in the event.
Participating states were represented at the event at the level of ministers, deputy ministers, special representatives of heads of state on climate issues, heads of UNFCCC negotiation groups and delegations of State Parties, and other high-level officials.
The theme of the Shamakhi Meeting, as in previous years, focused on key directions on the climate negotiation agenda, including climate finance, just transition, adaptation to the consequences of climate change, and greenhouse gas emission reductions, as well as the COP31 Presidency’s action agenda and the “Belem 1.5 Mission” implemented within the framework of the Troika mandate of the COP29, COP30, and COP31 presidencies.
At the meeting, an informal exchange of views was held on the results of the 64th session of the UNFCCC Subsidiary Bodies held in Bonn this June, ways to overcome the main challenges encountered during those discussions, and the possible contribution of these issues to the adoption of decisions within the framework of COP31 to be held in Turkey.
At the opening and closing ceremonies of the meeting, Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Azerbaijan and COP29 Lead Negotiator Yalchin Rafiyev, COP31 Chief Executive Officer and Deputy Minister of Environment, Urbanization and Climate Change of Turkey Fatma Varank, as well as COP31 Deputy President for Negotiations Sally Box delivered speeches. During the opening ceremony, video messages from the Representative of the President of the Republic of Azerbaijan on climate issues Mukhtar Babayev and COP30 Chief Executive Officer and National Secretary of the Ministry of Environment and Climate Change of Brazil Ana Toni were also shown.
It should be noted that the uniqueness of the Shamakhi Meeting format, which has become one of the important events within the annual calendar of the COP process, is that it creates conditions for climate negotiators participating in the event to exchange views in an informal, open, transparent, and result-oriented manner. Through this, it becomes possible to solve problems that arise in agreeing on decisions intended to be adopted at the upcoming COP more flexibly.
Event participants expressed support for the Shamakhi Meeting becoming a traditional platform, and the Ethiopian delegation, as the host of COP32 to be held in 2027, announced their readiness to organize the fourth Shamakhi Meeting together with Azerbaijan in July of next year.
