Diana Kibuuka
Next year’s Climate Change Summit – COP29 will once again take place in another major oil- and gas-producing country – Azerbaijan, a rich nation in natural resources, with its economy heavily based on oil and other energy exports. The country is considered an upper-middle income nation possessing a high level of economic development and literacy.
Azerbaijan win to hosting COP29 follows Russia’s move of blocking European Union countries from hosting and having a backup of the Twenty-Three Eastern European group countries that voted in Azerbaijan during a meeting on Saturday. Earlier, Armenia and Bulgaria had shown interest but they later withdrew their bids this week .
Mukhtar Babayev, Azerbaijan’s minister of ecology andnatural resources expressed gratitude for the support they received from the COP28 hosting country UAE and the Eastern European group countries and pledged commitment to working inclusively and collaboratively with everyone to ensure the success of COP29.