Hikmat Hajiyev responds to those criticizing Azerbaijan as COP29 host

Assistant of the President of Azerbaijan - Head of the Foreign Policy Department of the Presidential Administration Hikmat Hajiyev commented on Armenia's statement that "Azerbaijan as an oil country cannot host COP29."

Report informs that in his statement to journalists on the sidelines of COP29, the presidential aide said apart from Switzerland, almost all host countries of the previous 28 COPs have been fossil fuel-producing countries in some way.

"Another aspect of the issue is that if there is a supply of fossil fuels on one side, there is also demand on the other side. Almost all parties to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change are users of fossil fuels. Here again, we see cheap populist elements. Today there are real needs of the world, and fossil fuels are part of the current world. Of course, it negatively affects climate, but we need to work together to prevent it, rather than having such cheap and meaningless discussions," noted Hajiyev.

"European countries have hosted this event before us. Take Poland, for example. Poland is among the world's largest coal-producing countries today. COP was also held in Glasgow, UK. Glasgow is one of the world's coal-producing centers. Therefore, we need to contribute to result-oriented discussions here rather than mutual accusations," he stressed.