Azerbaijan’s mediation helped secure Türkiye’s selection as COP31 host, says official

The deputy foreign minister and former chief negotiator of COP29 in Azerbaijan, Yalchin Rafiyev, has said that Azerbaijan played a key mediating role in Türkiye’s successful bid to host COP31, Azernews reports.

He made the remarks during an international conference at ADA University on the role of universities in green energy and sustainability.

Rafiyev added that Türkiye’s hosting of COP31, following Azerbaijan, signals a growing regional focus on environmental and ecological issues, and underlined that Azerbaijan has offered its support to Türkiye. He also noted that a delegation from Azerbaijan is expected to be received by Türkiye in the near future.

It should be noted that while COP30, held in Brazil this year, faced challenges and delivered fewer major breakthroughs, COP29 in Baku concluded with landmark outcomes that helped reshape global climate policy. The summit achieved a historic milestone in climate finance through the adoption of the New Collective Quantified Goal (NCQG), strengthened the transparency framework, and advanced the operationalisation of carbon markets under Article 6.