The Head of State of Azerbaijan, Ilham Aliev opened this second day of COP29 by defending the right of countries to exploit their oil and gas resources.
This Tuesday, the president of the country, the historic cradle of oil, assumed his expression of “ gift from God », to designate the hydrocarbons which have made Azerbaijan rich. He recalled that the European Union had asked him to supply more gas, after the energy crisis of 2022.
« Any natural resource, oil, gas, wind, solar, gold, silver, copper: these are natural resources and countries should not be blamed for having them and providing them to the markets, because the markets need them », asserted Ilham Aliev.
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As host country of COP29, “ we will also be fierce defenders of a green transition (…). But at the same time we must be realistic », Underlined the authoritarian leader.
Criticism of the media and environmental NGOs
He then took advantage of his speech to criticize his detractors. Upon appointment as host of COP29, “ we have become the target of a coordinated and well-orchestrated campaign of smear and blackmail by Western media, so-called independent NGOs and some politicians », he thundered this Tuesday, in front of the audience of heads of state gathered in the Olympic stadium in Baku.
Without directly naming the United States, Ilham Aliev protested against “ the “media fake news” from the country which is the world's leading producer of gas and oil and produces 30 times more oil than Azerbaijan (and which us) qualifies as an oil state. They better look in the mirror “. Describing Azerbaijan as “ Petroleum state », « this is not fair and it demonstrates a lack of culture and political knowledge », defended the president, stressing that the country represents 0.7% of global oil production and 0.9% of gas production.
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The president of Azerbaijan, the second oil and gas power in a row to chair climate negotiations, after the United Arab Emirates last year, had already described its gas reserves as ” gift from God » in April. He had joined the recurring discourse of most developing countries wishing to exploit the windfall under their feet.
A few months later, Mukhtar Babaev, president of COP29 and Azerbaijani Minister of Environment and Natural Resources, announced that his country would continue to increase its gas production, “ a transitional energy “, to meet international demand, ” in parallel » of its investments in renewable energies.
A COP29 focused on developing countries
This year, COP29 must conclude with a new climate aid objective for developing countries, to help them reduce their emissions and adapt to climate change. “ I say to all countries: let's get a good result. Billions of people cannot afford for their governments to leave COP29 without a strong outcome “, urged the head of the UN Climate, Simon Stiell.
« Many of you have written about the climate implications of political events in recent weeks. I will just say that our process is solid. It is robust and will last », he added, in direct reference to the election of Donald Trump in the United States.
(With AFP)
