As a general assessment, the closure of land borders will not affect the number of participants at COP29, Deputy Foreign Minister of Azerbaijan and the COP29 Lead negotiator, Yalchin Rafiyev, said in an interview with Report.
According to Rafiyev, this is a matter under the Cabinet of Ministers' authority. “An assessment for that period will be conducted by our relevant agencies and a decision will be made,” he said. “Based on experiences from previous COPs and other international events, local sanitary and epidemiological situations are always prioritized. However, as a general assessment, we don't think the closure of land borders will affect the number of participants at COP29.”