Azerbaijan says it has 'consensus' to host 2024 climate summit

Azerbaijan says it has 'consensus' to host 2024 climate summit
by AFP Staff Writers
Dubai (AFP) Dec 9, 2023

Azerbaijan said Saturday it secured a consensus to host COP29 next year, which would be the second straight UN climate summit in a major producer of fossil fuels.

"I am delighted to announce that there is an overall consensus on the candidacy of Azerbaijan to host COP29," Mukhtar Babayev, minister of ecology and natural resources, said at COP28 in Dubai.

"We are committed to working inclusively and collaboratively with everyone to ensure the success of COP29," he said.

The Dubai summit, which is scheduled to close Tuesday, must formally approve the next host country.

But Babayev said Azerbaijan had won the support of the group of Eastern European nations, whose turn to lead the climate summit is next year, as well as the United Arab Emirates, this year's host.

Debate at the Dubai summit has focused on whether to seek an end to fossil fuel extraction, putting scrutiny on the host country, a member of the OPEC oil cartel whose leadership has led resistance to such calls.

COP28 president Sultan Al Jaber is also the head of the UAE's national oil company but has struck a moderate tone, saying that a phase-down of fossil fuels responsible for climate change is inevitable.

Azerbaijan cleared a major hurdle this week when its historic rival Armenia said it would withdraw its own bid to lead COP29 and back its neighbour as the two seek to repair relations.

Azerbaijan in September seized back Nagorno-Karabakh, an enclave controlled by ethnic Armenians and allied with Yerevan for three decades, in a lightning war.

Babayev said that Azerbaijan would pursue clean technologies in reconstruction of Nagorno-Karabakh, whose ethnic Armenian population has fled en masse.

"We are determined to transform these territories into a carbon-neutral zone by 2050," Babayev said.

He said Azerbaijan supported the UN-backed ambition of checking warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels.

Bulgaria had also sought to hold COP29 but dropped its bid after strong opposition from Russia, which did not want the summit to take place in a member of the European Union.

Armenia, Azerbaijan agree to prisoner exchange, work toward peace treaty
Washington DC (UPI) Dec 8, 2023 - Armenia and Azerbaijan have agreed to exchange prisoners as they recommit to normalizing relations with intentions of reaching a peace treaty, their two governments said.

The announcement comes months after Azerbaijan violently seized the breakaway Nagorno-Karabakh region from Armenia in a resumption of fighting that threatened to restart the deadly war of 2020.

A joint statement Thursday from the Office of Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan of Armenia and the Office of President Ilham Aliyev of Azerbaijan states that following talks between the Caucasian nations, they have agreed to take "tangible" confidence-building steps, including the exchange of prisoners.

The countries said that "driven by the values of humanism and as a gesture of goodwill" Azerbaijan will release 32 Armenian military servicemen and Armenia will release two Azerbaijani soldiers.

"The Republic of Armenia and the Republic of Azerbaijan share the view that there is a historical chance to achieve a long-awaited peace in the region," the statement said.

"[The] two countries reconfirm their intention to normalize relations and to reach the peace treaty on the basis of respect for the principles of sovereignty and territorial integrity."

In another gesture of goodwill, Armenia said it will also support Azerbaijan's bid to host the 29th Session of the Conference of Parties, better known as the COP29 United Nations climate change conference, by withdrawing its own candidacy.

And in turn, Azerbaijan said it will support the Armenia's candidacy for Eastern European Group COP Bureau membership.

The development was welcomed by the United States, which commended Aliyev and Pashinyan in for their efforts "to lay the groundwork for a more peaceful and prosperous future for the people of the south Caucasus," State Department spokesman Matthew Miller said in a statement.

Charles Michel, the European Union's top diplomat, said he was "delighted" to welcome the "major breakthrough" in Armenia-Azerbaijan relations.

"Establishing and deepening bilateral dialogue between sides has been a key objective of the [EU]-led Brussels process: today's progress is a key step," he said in a statement on X, formerly known as Twitter.

"I now encourage the leaders to finalize the [Armenia-Azerbaijan] peace deal ASAP."