ISLAMABAD, Pakistan, July 12. The hosting of COP29 in Azerbaijan opens up significant opportunities for Pakistan, Qaiser Nawab, President of the Belt and Road Initiative for Sustainable Development, told TurkicWorld.
"COP29 is not only an opportunity but also a global responsibility. We are proud that Azerbaijan will host the event because, as close brothers, we see Azerbaijan's success as our success. Hosting COP29 in Azerbaijan is a great opportunity for Pakistan as well. We can leverage this opportunity more effectively," he said.
Nawab noted that Pakistan has recently been severely impacted by climate change and environmental degradation.
"Heat waves pose a challenge to food security, and excessive rainfall is causing flooding issues. Millions of people are homeless, and many children cannot attend school. I believe Pakistan can use this platform very effectively. When COP29 President Mukhtar Babayev visited Pakistan, I had the opportunity to meet him and discuss what the youth of Pakistan think about this and how we can involve young people in this process," he said.
Nawab stated that Mukhtar Babayev assured him there will be ample opportunity for young people to discuss climate change and demonstrate their support for this global cause.
"We expect many young people from Pakistan to come to Azerbaijan to speak about our problems to the world community at COP29," he added.
Furthermore, Nawab noted that relations between the two countries are based on mutual trust, understanding, cultural similarity, and brotherhood.
"Why not utilize this mutual brotherhood to increase trade turnover to several millions and billions," he said.
The 29th session of the Conference of the Parties to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (COP29) will be held in Azerbaijan in November this year. The decision was made at the plenary meeting of COP28 held in Dubai on December 11 last year. Within two weeks Baku, having become the center of the world, will host about 70,000-80,000 foreign guests.
The UN Framework Convention on Climate Change is an agreement signed at the Rio Earth Summit in June 1992 to prevent dangerous human interference in the climate system. The acronym COP (Conference of Parties) stands for Conference of Parties, which is the highest legislative body overseeing the implementation of the Framework Convention on Climate Change.
A total of 198 countries are parties to the convention. Unless the parties have decided otherwise, COP is held annually. The first COP event was held in March 1995 in Berlin, and its secretariat is located in Bonn.
