BAKU, Azerbaijan, March 14. Azerbaijan has demonstrated a high level of readiness to host the Thirteenth session of the World Urban Forum (WUF13), said María Fernanda Espinosa, President of the 73rd session of the UN General Assembly, TurkicWorld reports.
Speaking at a briefing in Baku dedicated to WUF13, Espinosa highlighted Azerbaijan’s hospitality, organizational capabilities, and the rich history and culture of Baku during a briefing ahead of the forum.
"I have personally witnessed Azerbaijan’s warm hospitality, its strong organizational capacity, and the wealth of history and culture in Baku, which gives me full confidence that the World Urban Forum will be a success," she said.
Espinosa stressed that events like WUF13 require not only technical preparation but also political will and leadership.
"We see various sectors coming together to address a challenge of enormous scale. It demands concrete solutions in policy, investment, design, and planning," she noted.
She highlighted the urgent need for the international community to address the global housing crisis.
"With over a billion people living in slums and informal settlements and hundreds of millions homeless, it is essential to strengthen policies, increase investment, and make responsible political decisions.
The current housing crisis is man-made. This is a human-created crisis, which means human solutions are possible and necessary," Espinosa said.
