“Azerbaijan’s hosting of COP29 has made a significant contribution to the development of the country’s climate diplomacy and the strengthening of its international relations.”
elchi reports that this was stated by Elchin Allahverdiyev, Director of the Climate Diplomacy Department of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Azerbaijan, Vice-President of the COP31 Bureau, and member of the Adaptation Fund Board, during his speech at a panel session held within the framework of the Fourth Climate Week (CW4) of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change, organized by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
He noted that Azerbaijan has long-term and successful experience in diplomatic activities:
“Our country has been actively participating in various diplomatic platforms for three decades. Hosting COP is not just a matter of organization and logistics. It is a huge diplomatic and organizational process, as well as an activity that requires numerous interactions and cooperation. As a relatively new country in this field, Azerbaijan took this commitment very seriously. First of all, we performed our duties very well, maintained contact with all parties and non-party actors, international organizations, and made our process as inclusive as possible from the very beginning. This approach allowed for the building of trust between parties and non-party actors. As you know, climate diplomacy is an attempt to bring together the different positions of parties belonging to different groups and to build bridges between them. It is not just about developed and developing countries. There are also parties with different priorities, different ambitions, and different expectations.”
Elchin Allahverdiyev stated that Azerbaijan managed to overcome disagreements and build bridges between the parties within the framework of COP29:
“We were able to bring all these disagreements together and bridge the existing gaps. As a result, all parties began to trust Azerbaijan. This allowed us to build the process transparently and move forward decisively.”
He added that the experience and relationships formed within the framework of Azerbaijan’s previous diplomatic activities created an important foundation for the development of climate diplomacy during COP29:
“The experience and relationships we formed in our diplomatic activities from the beginning allowed us to build on those successes and advance in climate diplomacy as well.”