BAKU, Azerbaijan, November 19. The ministerial meeting of the Food and Agriculture for Sustainable Transformation (FAST) partnership was held within the framework of COP29, Trend reports.
Azerbaijani Agriculture Minister Majnun Mammadov said during the meeting that the Baku Harmoniya Initiative is an important addition to the FAST partnership.
He noted that FAST is an important platform aimed at addressing urgent challenges in agriculture through mobilizing financial resources to support small farmers and rural communities most vulnerable to climate change.
“Through FAST, we are creating a holistic approach so that climate solutions in agri-food systems are not only impactful but also inclusive. And today we launched the Baku Harmoniya, a climate initiative for farmers, at COP29, demonstrating our commitment to addressing climate challenges and building resilience in agricultural communities,” he said.
The minister noted that the goal of the Baku Harmoniya initiative is to create a new avenue for cooperation, which contributes to the harmonization of existing initiatives.
“We see the Baku Harmony initiative as an important complement to the FAST partnership, a unifying platform that makes climate finance more accessible and effective to increase the resilience of rural communities,” Mammadov noted.
According to him, during each COP, the parties build on previous commitments and learn from the experience of past initiatives.
“Baku Harmoniya will become a specialized platform for cooperation, ensuring not only coexistence but also coordinated work of climate initiatives in the field of agri-food finance to achieve maximum effect and prevent duplication,” he said.
In turn, New Zealand Ambassador for Climate Change Stuart Horne noted that New Zealand supports Azerbaijan's Harmoniya initiative, which was developed in partnership with the FAST coordination structure.
To note, the 29th session of the Conference of the Parties to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (COP29), which will run until November 22, opened at the Baku Olympic Stadium on November 11. It is the largest event organized by Azerbaijan to date, and the first time in the region that it is being held in Azerbaijan.
Within COP29, the highest level event - the summit of world leaders on climate action – was held on November 12–13.
The main expectation from COP29 is to agree on a fair and ambitious New Collective Quantitative Goal (NCQG) on climate finance. The COP29 Presidency has launched 14 initiatives that include linkages between climate action and the Sustainable Development Goals, including green energy corridors, green energy storage, harmony for climate resilience, clean hydrogen, methane reduction in organic waste, action on green digital technologies, and other topics.
In addition to being a top priority that creates the conditions for action, creating climate finance will also help fulfill the 1.5°C pledge by bringing everyone together.
The UN Framework Convention on Climate Change is an agreement signed at the Rio Earth Summit in June 1992 to prevent dangerous human interference in the climate system. The acronym COP (Conference of Parties) stands for “Conference of Parties” and is the highest legislative body overseeing the implementation of the Framework Convention on Climate Change.
A total of 198 countries are parties to the Convention. Unless otherwise decided by the parties, COP is held annually. The first COP event was held in March 1995 in Berlin, and its secretariat is located in Bonn.
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