Baku: The Azerbaijan National NGO Forum has taken the initiative to form a coalition of foreign NGOs that are expected to participate in the 13th World Urban Forum (WUF13), scheduled to be held in Baku in 2026.

According to Azeri-Press News Agency, an online meeting took place on February 28, 2025, bringing together NGOs from Switzerland, Italy, and Benin for preliminary consultations. Representatives from the Italian organization ‘City Space Architecture’, Vija Viese and Egle Pilipaviciute, along with Mahak Agrawal from the ‘ITA-AITES’ organization in Geneva, Switzerland, and Salem Ayeman, chairman of the ‘Future for Future’ organization in Benin, expressed their appreciation for the Azerbaijani NGOs’ initiative. The meeting provided a platform for exchanging experiences and discussing the role of civil society in World Urban Forums.

Ramil Iskanderli, Chairman of the Azerbaijan National NGO Forum, announced that the founding meeting of the WUF13 NGO Coalition would be held online soon. Amin Mammadov, a national expert with the Forum, highlighted its experience in collaborating with foreign NGO platforms. The Forum had previously established the COP29 NGO Coalition in 2024, which unified over 500 NGOs from almost 100 countries, and this network is set to evolve into the Global South NGO Platform.

Confidence was expressed during the meeting that the WUF13 NGO Coalition could significantly contribute to the shared objectives of the World Urban Forum.