BAKU, Azerbaijan, November 20. Ensuring efficient transport corridors is a key element of the global climate agenda, said Natavan Aghayeva, International Relations Manager at the Executive Office of the General Director of the Baku International Sea Trade Port CJSC, at a panel discussion on "Pathways to Sustainable Connectivity: Efforts of CICA & its Member States, and Regional Organizations in Asia for Secure, Effective and Climate-Resilient Transportation Corridors" at COP29, Trend reports.
"Ensuring safe and efficient transport corridors is a key element of the climate agenda. At this event organized by the Baku International Sea Trade Port with the support of ACDM, our goal is to develop a unified perspective on transforming the Middle Corridor into a Green Corridor.
International trade is not just about the movement of people and goods but also presents significant environmental challenges with economic and social impacts on health. Therefore, our task today, working together with delegates, experts, and practitioners, is to develop common approaches and an agenda, as well as discuss opportunities for creating strategies aimed at establishing a sustainable Green Corridor and transforming the Middle Corridor into an environmentally sustainable transport route," she said.
Aghayeva highlighted that the Middle Corridor stretches for 4,250 kilometers by rail and 500 kilometers by sea. She also noted that Baku Port, strategically situated at the crossroads of East and West and Europe and Asia, with Russia to the north and Iran to the south, has a throughput capacity of 15 million tons, including 100,000 TEU.
The official also reminded attendees that the establishment of the Caspian Scientific and Information Center was announced earlier at COP29. The center will unite science and business to promote collaboration among regional countries, companies, and researchers in tackling environmental issues in the Caspian Sea and developing solutions.
The center will focus on studying the declining water levels in the Caspian Sea and finding effective measures to address this phenomenon.
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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