Armenia’s View on COP 29 Conference in Baku

The Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (COP 29) started in Baku, the capital of Azerbaijan. Within the framework of the event, the capital of Azerbaijan will receive about 70,000 foreign guests. This year’s meeting is dedicated to efforts to reduce pollution and raise funds to adapt to more severe weather conditions. It is planned that more than 100 heads of states and governments, vice-presidents will participate in the COP29 leaders’ summit, which will continue until November 24. The leaders of several countries of the world, EU member Ursula von der Leyen, US President Joe Biden, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, Chinese President Xi Jinping have announced that they will not participate in the summit.

The decision to host COP29 in Azerbaijan was criticized by human rights activists and political analysts. Michael Rubin, a senior fellow at the American Enterprise Institute (AEI) and a former Pentagon official, wrote that Azerbaijan’s victory in hosting the COP could backfire. “Caviar diplomacy and messages from PR companies may sway the naive, the ignorant or the easily bought, but it will also shine a light on the country’s rentierism, corruption and abuse.”

In a Time՛s article, Simon Maghakyan described Azerbaijan as a “repressive oil aggressor” whose pseudo-environmentalism “makes a mockery of the existential crisis they face as a species” and “undermines confidence” in the world’s most important affairs.

According to the US government’s International Trade Department, oil and gas production accounts for half of Azerbaijan’s GDP and 92.5% of its export earnings in 2022.

The mayor of Paris, Anne Hidalgo, also announced that she would not participate in the Baku conference, accusing Azerbaijan of ethnic cleansing of Armenians in the Nagorno Karabakh region in September 2023.

Azerbaijan also invited Armenia to COP29. The RA Foreign Ministry reported that official Yerevan received an invitation to participate in this event in Baku, in turn, Deputy Foreign Minister Paruyr Hovhannisyan reported that the invitation was received in the name of Foreign Minister Ararat Mirzoyan. Both Ararat Mirzoyan and the Deputy Ministers of Foreign Affairs, as well as the head of the Prime Minister’s Office and representatives of the parliamentary ruling power have repeatedly stated that discussions are underway regarding Armenia’s participation in the forum. Baku was granted the privilege to host COP 29 only after Armenia waived its veto in exchange for the release of 32 Armenian prisoners. To this day, Azerbaijan continues to illegally detain at least two dozen known Armenian prisoners of war and political prisoners, many of whom are still missing, given Azerbaijan’s refusal to recognize or confirm their status.

 

Published on 12.11.2024

Source of the picture: United Nations Department of Global Communications