Istanbul: Azerbaijan made its presence felt at the Istanbul Climate Finance Summit held in Trkiye, under the framework of Trkiye's COP31 Presidency agenda. The summit was attended by Mukhtar Babayev, President's Representative for Climate Issues, and Yalchin Rafiyev, Deputy Foreign Minister of Azerbaijan, who are members of the Advisory Board of Trkiye's COP31 Presidency.
According to Azerbaijan State News Agency, the summit featured an array of formats such as panel discussions, high-level sessions, and roundtables that focused on climate finance, resilient urban development, COP31 preparations, and other pivotal topics. Participants included government agencies, multilateral development banks, international financial institutions, investors, and representatives from the private sector.
Deputy Minister Yalchin Rafiyev played a significant role by moderating the roundtable discussions on "Climate Finance for Climate-Resilient Cities." In his remarks, Rafiyev pointed out the agreement reached during COP29 on the New Collective Quantified Goal (NCQG), also known as the Baku Finance Goal. This goal sets a long-term financing target aimed at increasing support for developing countries to 1.3 trillion US dollars by 2035.
Rafiyev highlighted that sustainable cities were earmarked as a key priority in the COP29 Action Agenda. Within this framework, initiatives like the Baku Sustainability Coalition and the Multisectoral Action Pathways (MAP) for Sustainable and Healthy Cities were introduced. He further emphasized the outcomes of the Baku-hosted 13th World Urban Forum (WUF13) in May 2026, which played a crucial role in advancing the climate resilience agenda for cities.
Additionally, Yalchin Rafiyev underscored the importance of the upcoming Baku Climate Action Week in Azerbaijan, which aims to sustain the outcomes achieved. Both Babayev and Rafiyev addressed a high-level session titled "Climate Implementation Bridge: A High-Level Roadmap for Implementation and Financing," chaired by Turkish Minister of Environment, Urbanization and Climate Change Murat Kurum. They highlighted the contributions of COP29's historic outcomes to global discussions on climate finance.