Azerbaijani president still defends oil and gas, “gift from God”

“Quote me when I say it’s a gift from God. I want to repeat it here today, in front of this audience”declared Ilham Aliev at the opening of a summit of world leaders at COP29 this Tuesday, November 12.

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“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” he added.

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.

Azerbaijan denies being an oil state

To describe Azerbaijan as“Oil state”, “it 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.

Without directly naming the United States, Ilham Aliev protested against “the “fake news media” of the country which is the world’s leading producer of gas and oil and produces 30 times more oil than Azerbaijan” and who we “qualify an oil state. They better look in the mirror.”.

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 again in front of the audience of heads of state gathered in the Olympic stadium in Baku.

Gas, “a transitional energy”

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 for the first time described its gas reserves as “gift from God” in April, joining the recurring discourse of most developing countries wishing to exploit the windfall under their feet.

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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, “an energy of transition”to meet international demand, “in parallel” of its investments in renewable energies.