Founder and CEO of the “ *Yeni Çağ – Azərbaycan* ” Media Group, member of the board of the Press Council of Azerbaijan *Agil Alesger* commented on the UN international climate conference COP29 held in Azerbaijan.
"Last December, by a unanimous decision of almost 200 countries, Azerbaijan was honored to host COP29, which was a demonstration of respect for our country, as well as recognition of its active role in the international arena. We already had experience in holding major events such as Eurovision 2012, the European Games 2015, the IV Islamic Solidarity Games 2017, the most prestigious auto race in the world "Formula 1" - "Azerbaijan Grand Prix", etc.
However, COP29 is a truly large-scale event, and the figures announced by the President of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev during his speech at the opening ceremony of the COP29 World Leaders' Summit speak for themselves. "We have 72 thousand participants from 196 countries registered. Among them are 80 presidents, vice-presidents and prime ministers. Thus, the world has gathered in Baku, and we say to the world: "Welcome to Azerbaijan!" So, Azerbaijan confidently managed to organize COP29 at the highest level.
These days, our country has become the center of attention of the world community. As we know, the current year was declared by the President of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev "The Year of Solidarity for a Green World". The government, state structures, non-governmental organizations have been preparing for such a significant event throughout the year.
The efforts made have yielded results, because all high-ranking guests note the excellent organization of COP29. However, literally from the moment Azerbaijan was chosen to host COP29, our country became the target of a well-organized smear campaign, regularly spreading fake news and disinformation to denigrate our country. But no matter how hard certain forces tried to slander and create a negative image of Azerbaijan, their dirty campaigns were not crowned with success. Azerbaijan clearly demonstrated to the whole world its commitment to sustainable development, determination to the "green" transition, the use of renewable energy sources, and most importantly - the desire to solve urgent environmental problems as soon as possible, creating a platform in Baku within the framework of COP29 to discuss the most pressing issues related to climate change and other issues arising from it. Within the framework of COP29, many events were held aimed at discussing and solving these important problems.
The well-coordinated work of the Organizing Committee, created in connection with the holding of COP29 in Azerbaijan, became an example of how such large-scale international events should be held.
Throughout the days of COP29, several thousand volunteers made efforts to ensure the comfort of numerous guests, meeting them at the airport, helping with transportation, hotel accommodation and city tours. But their work was not limited to this, as they were also actively involved in the "green" and "blue" zones of the COP29 site.
On the other hand, holding COP29 contributed to demonstrating the rich tourism potential that our country has. Those who visited Azerbaijan for the first time were given a unique opportunity to get acquainted with our country, its history, customs, traditions and culture.
Holding the 29th Conference of the Parties to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (COP29) in Azerbaijan, which took place from November 11 to 22, once again showed that our country is capable of hosting and holding such important international events of global scale at the highest level”.
