Azerbaijan’s COP presidency is pivotal in rebuilding trust and alignment between the global north and south through a new climate financing target sustained by developed countries, Mukhtar Babayev, Azerbaijan’s Minister for Ecology and Natural Resources, COP29 President-Designate, said in an interview with Forbes, News.Az reports.
“Azerbaijan is at the crossroads between the East and West, and South. That’s why we would like to be the bridge between the developing and developed world,” he says.
“We must demonstrate that the world is ready to work together to support each other,” he asserts, expressing frustration with recent challenges achieving consensus among nations. “This is a very critical time, not only for Azerbaijan but for the entire world, to find solutions.”
With climate adaptation in developing countries requiring up to 18 times current contributions— at least 50% more than was previously thought—Babayev is adamant that the private sector has a critical role to play.
“The private sector is one of the big sources of possible investments, and we would like to provide all necessary platforms to motivate them to be part of the solution,” he says. “How to do this is the subject of negotiations, but transparency is very important here, because markets, countries, and the private sector want to see transparency.”
