Alberto Rubio
“The unanimous election of Azerbaijan to host COP29 is a recognition of our leadership and efforts to address climate change issues at the national, regional and global levels”, said Ambassador Ramiz Hasanov during a reception on Tuesday to commemorate Azerbaijan’s Independence Day, 28 May 1918, when the first secular, parliamentary republic in the East was proclaimed.
The ambassador said that “COP29”, to be held in Baku in November, “will serve as a vital platform connecting the north, south, east, west” and expressed the hope that “it will mobilise the international community to achieve significant progress in the fight against global warming”.
According to Hasanov, “green growth is an absolute priority for Azerbaijan to boost climate action at the national and global level”. In this regard, he recalled that “President Ilham Aliyev has declared 2024 as the Year of Solidarity for a Green World”, giving priority to projects related to clean energy.
The ambassador also included a reference to the Nagorno-Karabakh region, stating that “our smart cities and towns in the liberated territories aim to become zero-emission zones by 2050“. Finally, he added that “by 2030 we plan to have 30 per cent of our installed capacity of electricity generation from renewable energy”.
With regard to the conflict with Armenia, on behalf of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Director General for Asia-Pacific, Carlos Moreno, expressed the “satisfaction” of the Spanish authorities for “the high-level contacts that Azerbaijan and Armenia have maintained in recent months and which have led to an agreement to delimit some sections of the common border”.
The Spanish diplomat added that “to achieve the goal of a lasting peace, both sides know that they can count on Spain’s support and encouragement, based on respect for the basic principles of international law”.
Moreno also offered ·”the support of Spanish companies to accompany Azerbaijan in its energy transition towards a renewable generation model” without forgetting that there are also ‘important opportunities for collaboration in sectors such as infrastructure and engineering’, as was made clear during the Spain-Azerbaijan business meeting organised last year in Madrid by the Spanish Chamber of Commerce, Icex and the CEOE.
In reviewing bilateral trade exchanges, both agreed that they have grown significantly, by more than 60 % in the last two years, and that the number of Spanish companies with a significant presence in Azerbaijan now exceeds 30. Moreno reported that, in order to intensify this relationship, “the signing of a memorandum of understanding between the Ministries of Economy of both countries is planned; another between the respective chambers of commerce; and the holding of a joint bilateral economic-commercial commission”.
The representative of the Foreign Ministry stressed the strategic importance of Azerbaijan and the South Caucasus in the context of Russia’s aggression against Ukraine as “a transit area for trade routes between Europe and Asia and a supplier of hydrocarbons following the energy crisis with Russia, which has given a new impetus to the relationship between the European Union and Azerbaijan”.
For this reason, he said that “European initiatives such as Repower EU or Global Gateway are key to the consolidation of trade routes in the Middle Corridor, of which Azerbaijan is an essential part”.
