Global leaders gather in Baku to advance climate negotiations before COP29

Participants of the Pre-COP, which include global climate leaders, government officials, constituencies, and delegates, pose for a family picture at the opening of gathering in Baku, Azerbaijan on Oct. 10, 2024. (COP29 photo)
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Updated 03 November 2024
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Global leaders gather in Baku to advance climate negotiations before COP29

  • Talks focus on finance and support for vulnerable communities
  • Azerbaijan’s President Ilham Aliyev urges agreement on key issues

The COP29 Presidency is hosting global climate leaders, government officials, constituencies, and delegates at Pre-COP in Baku, Azerbaijan, to discuss key environmental issues facing the planet.

The 3-day Pre-COP meeting, which started Oct. 10, provides an important platform for parties to advance climate negotiations ahead of the 29th Conference of the Parties to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change, set to take place in November.

Pre-COP discussions are focusing on making progress on key priorities before COP29, including climate finance, the New Collective Quantified Goal, mitigation, adaptation, and supporting vulnerable communities, according to a press release issued by the organizers.

In an address delivered on his behalf by COP29 president-designate Mukhtar Babayev, President Ilham Aliyev of Azerbaijan emphasized the importance of agreeing an NCQG at COP29 that “meets the needs of the developing, least developed and small island developing states” and represents a “substantial increase” over the prior goal.

Aliyev said reaching this goal would require the collaboration of the international community. “Neither Azerbaijan in its capacity of the COP29 Presidency, nor any other state, can take decisions on behalf of others.

“Our role is to provide the platform for facilitating negotiations, which we believe we have been fulfilling impartially,” he said.

In his own address at the opening ceremony, Babayev recognized the progress made, while also calling for participants to act with urgency and use the Pre-COP meeting to build the foundation for a successful outcome at COP29.

“We are building bridges and momentum, but we need much more,” said Babayev. “We make progress when we come together, put differences aside, and engage in open and honest dialogue.”

Setting out clear goals for each priority, he identified the need to “take seriously the responsibility for identifying a number over a timeframe and come forward with solutions.

“Qualitative elements of the goal such as transparency and accessibility are also essential to ensuring that the goal is both fair and ambitious.”

Babayev also outlined goals for each of the other top negotiating priorities, including concluding work on Article 6 as a much-needed priority “crucial for directing financial and technical resources.”

The aim was to turn pledges into signed contributor agreements to the fund for responding to loss and damage, and attracting “significantly greater contributions” to all funds.

This includes the Green Climate Fund and the Adaptation Fund, and responding to the call of the UAE Consensus to transition away from fossil fuels in a just and orderly manner.

Pre-COP is the latest milestone in Azerbaijan’s preparations for COP29, which will be a key moment in the global effort to limit global warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius and build resilience to climate impacts.

In the lead up to Pre-COP, the COP29 Presidency also convened an informal Heads of Delegation meeting on Oct. 8 in Baku, followed by the formal High-Level Ministerial Dialogue on the NCQG on Oct. 9.

Another Heads of Delegation meeting is scheduled for Oct. 12.

“COP29 will be a defining test for both the Paris Agreement and for multilateralism,” stated Babayev.

“The world is watching, and history will judge us on the outcomes we achieve. Success or failure at COP29 will be collective and each of us has a role to play. We must all offer the best of ourselves.”
 


KSrelief distributes 195 winter kits in Yemen’s Hadhramaut

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KSrelief distributes 195 winter kits in Yemen’s Hadhramaut

RIYADH: The Kingdom’s aid agency KSrelief has delivered 195 winter kits for vulnerable people in Yemen’s Hadhramaut governorate, the Saudi Press Agency reported on Sunday.

This initiative is a part of an ongoing emergency shelter project in Yemen. The kits benefited 1,170 people from 195 families.

KSrelief provides food, medical and other aid to needy communities across the globe.


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KSrelief delivers food aid to vulnerable people in Syria and Chad

RIYADH: The Kingdom’s aid agency KSrelief recently delivered 293 food parcels and 293 health kits to vulnerable people in Syria’s Idlib governorate, the Saudi Press Agency reported on Sunday.

The aid is benefitting 1,758 people from 293 families, and is a part of KSrelief’s support for those affected by this year’s earthquake in the region.

KSrelief also delivered 292 food boxes for 1,752 people in the Mayo-Kebbi Est region of Chad. This is a part of the agency’s ongoing support projects in the African nation.


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KSrelief conducts ear, nose and throat operations in Yemen’s Aden

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KSrelief launches Saudi Noor Voluntary Project in Sri Lanka for people with visual ailments

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Health workers examined 4,500 people, distributed 600 pairs of spectacles, and performed 115 specialized eye operations.

KSrelief runs Noor-affiliated programs in several countries around the world.


KSrelief clinics treat 2,483 refugees in Jordan, deliver dialysis machines in Yemen

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KSrelief clinics treat 2,483 refugees in Jordan, deliver dialysis machines in Yemen

  • Patients treated at Jordan’s Zaatari camp, and in Yemen’s Marib and Harib

RIYADH: The Kingdom’s aid agency KSrelief treated 2,483 Syrian refugees at the Al-Zaatari camp in Jordan during the first week of November, the Saudi Press Agency reported on Sunday.

KSrelief’s emergency clinic treated 253 patients, the cardiology clinic 27 patients, and the internal medicine clinic 122 patients with diabetes, hypertension and asthma.

Several others were treated for various ailments, including 285 children.

In Yemen, KSrelief delivered the third batch of dialysis machines and medical supplies to the Ministry of Public Health and Population office in Marib governorate on Saturday.

The batch, weighing approximately 30 tonnes, is to support the dialysis centers at two hospitals in the Marib and Harib areas, the SPA reported.

Dr. Ahmed Saleh Al-Abadi, health director in Marib, praised Saudi Arabia for supporting medical programs in Yemen for more than a decade.