The European Commissioner for Climate Action, Wopke Hoekstra, visited Baku on Thursday 20 June as part of the preparations for the next United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP29), to be held in Azerbaijan in November.
On his arrival, Mr Hoekstra called, on X, to complete the work done at COP28 in Dubai: “We need to implement all global energy transition goals of the UAE consensus, including through new NDCs, and support this through ambitious climate finance”.
During his stay, the Commissioner met the President-designate of COP29 and Azerbaijani Minister of Ecology and Natural Resources, Mukhtar Babayev, as well as the COP29 Presidency team.
Bilateral meetings were also scheduled with the Minister of Energy, Parviz Shahbazov, and the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Jeyhun Bayramov.
In addition, Mr Hoekstra held discussions with representatives of civil society in Azerbaijan to demonstrate the importance of their involvement in climate talks.
This visit follows the Bonn Climate Conference, which took place from 3 to 13 June, where international delegates discussed the follow-up to the first global review of the Paris Agreement agreed at COP28, climate finance targets and future ‘Nationally Determined Contributions’ (NDCs), all major issues for COP29. (Original version in French by Nithya Paquiry)