The decision by France's Minister of Ecology, Energy, and Climate, Agnès Pannier-Runacher, not to attend the COP29 summit in Baku is misguided, Azerbaijan's Foreign Minister Jeyhun Bayramov told journalists, Report informs.
Bayramov stated that the French minister's choice to withdraw from participating in COP29 is an unconstructive approach. "For a leading country of the European Union, which considers itself one of the frontrunners in the climate sphere, to stay away from the climate agenda under any pretext is a wrong step," he emphasized.
The foreign minister underscored that Azerbaijan has never mixed the climate topic with other issues concerning France. "We have had events before COP, and French speakers and representatives were invited to all of them and participated. Our COP team has also worked very constructively with them," Bayramov noted. "As I have said before, France's non-participation is their own choice."