Azerbaijan's hosting of COP29 is indicator of its internationally growing prestige

The Conference of the Parties to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change - COP is moving towards a successful conclusion in Dubai, United Arab Emirates.

The COP is the highest decision-making body of the Convention, whose secretariat is located in Bonn.

Every year, government representatives from all over the world gather at the COP and call for joint efforts to prevent climate change and eliminate its consequences. The first meeting of the COP was held in Berlin in 1995.

The last COP28 was held in Dubai this year. Bringing together nearly 100,000 delegates, COP28 was the largest event in the history of the UN. More than 120 heads of state and government attended the summit meeting organized within the framework of the conference. Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev participated in the said event for the first time.

The hosting of the COP normally rotates among the five regional groups of the UN. Each regional group must decide by consensus to nominate a country from among its members to host this conference.

It is the Eastern European regional group's turn to host COP29 in 2024. Our country, which is included in the mentioned group, proposed to hold the conference in Azerbaijan. Along with Azerbaijan, Armenia and Bulgaria also put forward their candidacies. On December 7, 2023, in a joint statement issued as a result of direct negotiations between the Administration of the President of the Republic of Azerbaijan and the Office of the Prime Minister of Armenia, Armenia withdrew its candidacy in favor of Azerbaijan. After that, Bulgaria withdrew its candidacy, and as a result, yesterday, December 9, the Eastern European regional group identified Azerbaijan as the country that will host the COP in 2024. The official decision will be made during the plenary session on December 12.

As a result of the targeted policy carried out by the President of the Republic of Azerbaijan, Azerbaijan has achieved high socio-economic development and solid socio-political stability. The glorious victory we won in the Patriotic War recognized our country as the strongest country in the world. As a result of the successful foreign policy of the head of state, the reputation of our country at the international level is increasing day by day.

During the last 4 years, Azerbaijan has successfully chaired the Non-Aligned Movement, which is the largest international institution after the UN and has left a successful legacy to the next chairpersons.

Our country has repeatedly demonstrated its ability to organize prestigious events of a global nature at a high level. It is known to the whole world community that Azerbaijan, which has achieved high development indicators, has a modern infrastructure to organize such huge events and is a stable country in terms of security.

The selection of Azerbaijan to host one of the world's largest and most important interstate events, COP29, in 2024 is another solemn victory of the President of the Republic of Azerbaijan. This is the biggest success of our foreign policy after our chairmanship of the Non-Aligned Movement and our membership in the Security Council. At the same time, it is a solid response to some circles that have been conducting an ugly campaign against Azerbaijan lately. The head of state once again overturned these speculations and proved that they cannot overshadow the positive image of Azerbaijan. With this initiative, the President of the Republic of Azerbaijan once again showed the power of Azerbaijan to the world and demonstrated that he has gained great trust in the international world. Our country will be at the center of the world's attention by mobilizing efforts against climate change, which is one of the global problems, and contributing to this fight.

The year 2023 was written in golden letters in our history with the full restoration of Azerbaijan's sovereignty. We conclude this great year with another victory.

It should be noted that Azerbaijan has joined the fight against global climate change by being a party to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change. Our country aims to reduce the amount of greenhouse gases by 35% by 2030 compared to 1990. After 2030, a more ambitious target has been set, which consists of reducing the amount of greenhouse gases by 40% by 2050.

The President of the Republic of Azerbaijan has declared the freed lands of our country as a "Green Energy" zone. It is planned to turn these areas into "Net zero emission" zones by 2050.