Mukhtar Babayev, the Minister of Ecology and Natural Resources of Azerbaijan and COP29 President-Designate, held a bilateral meeting with Rebeca Grynspan, the Secretary-General of UN Trade and Development (UNCTAD) during the 79th session of the UN General Assembly (UNGA79) and New York Climate Week, Report informs.
The meeting focused on discussions regarding the COP29 Baku Initiative for Climate Finance, Investment, and Trade (BICFIT). It was emphasized that UNCTAD and the UN Development Programme (UNDP), represented in the relevant UN Global Working Group established for COP29, play a coordinating role on behalf of the UN for the BICFIT initiative put forward by Azerbaijan.
The COP29 Presidency also closely collaborates with the World Trade Organization (WTO), the International Trade Centre (ITC), and other international partners on this initiative.
Minister Babayev informed Grynspan that Azerbaijan, as the president of COP29, will organize a thematic day on Climate Finance, Investment, and Trade for the first time.
He noted that the Trade and Investment House will be organized by the Azerbaijan Export and Investment Promotion Foundation (AZPROMO), operating under the Ministry of Economy of Azerbaijan, in cooperation with partners such as the WTO, UNCTAD, the International Trade Centre, and the International Chamber of Commerce.
Emphasizing the significance of the innovative BICFIT initiative proposed by the COP29 Presidency, Babayev stressed that its main objective is to bring together climate finance, investment, trade, and sustainable development issues to ensure global synergy. The initiative to create free green economic zones worldwide could be one of the first outputs of BICFIT and a legacy of COP29.
He also mentioned that the COP29 Presidency is conducting extensive consultations with parties on all initiatives, and a special session on the BICFIT initiative was organized on September 13, 2024, within the framework of the WTO Public Forum in Geneva, Switzerland, with the participation of countries and all other partners.
Grynspan, in turn, thanked the government of Azerbaijan for organizing a unified thematic day on finance, investment, and trade for the first time during COP29 and for the support provided for the establishment of the Trade and Investment House.
She highly appreciated the BICFIT initiative put forward by Azerbaijan, emphasizing the great perspective of this initiative aimed at strengthening the connection between climate finance, investment, trade, and development issues by bringing them together. Grynspan welcomed the COP29 Presidency's proposal for the dialogue component of BICFIT to be part of the World Investment Forum, organized biennially by the organization she leads.
At the end of the meeting, a relevant letter of intent was signed between the parties on cooperation for the development of the BICFIT initiative in close collaboration with other partners.