BAKU, Azerbaijan, October 31. A media tour took place at Azerbaijan’s Heydar Aliyev International Airport as part of the preparations for COP29, TurkicWorld reports.
The media tour featured participation from the media, the State Migration Service, Azerbaijan Airlines (AZAL), and ASAN Visa.
During the tour, media representatives were briefed on the preparations for COP29, which included demonstrations of passenger screening, passport control, and the processing of special entry visas for conference participants at the terminals.
It was noted that the number of screening points has been increased to enhance passenger flow capacity.
Following the media tour, a briefing took place where Teymur Hasanov, Director of Heydar Aliyev International Airport, announced that passenger traffic is anticipated to reach between 25,000 and 27,000 people per day during COP29.
"To support all processes, additional staff and volunteers have been recruited, and a working group has been established for coordination. Currently, daily passenger traffic is around 18,000 to 20,000, and we anticipate an increase of 25,000 to 27,000 during COP29. With enhanced operations, the airport will be able to accommodate up to 45,000 to 50,000 passengers per day," Hasanov added.
Ulvi Aliyev, Head of the International Cooperation Department at the State Migration Service of Azerbaijan, added that a high-level panel discussion on human mobility in the context of climate change is planned for November 18, in collaboration with the International Organization for Migration.
"The State Migration Service, together with the COP29 Organizing Committee and the COP29 Azerbaijan Operating Company, has conducted several initiatives to simplify migration registration, raise awareness, and address issues arising from entry and exit from the country. According to the agreement signed between the Government of Azerbaijan and the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change, the registration period for COP29 participants has been extended from 15 to 30 days. These concessions apply to foreigners and stateless individuals arriving on a COP29 visa or without a visa who have registered with the UN Climate Change Secretariat. Necessary technical and organizational preparations have been made to facilitate convenient and unhindered border crossing, especially for those arriving without a visa," he noted.
To note, 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.
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.
