What's Happening at COP29? Some Are Participating, Some Are Not, and Some Have Changed Their Minds...

From November 11, COP29 is being held in Baku. On November 12, at the opening ceremony, President Ilham Aliyev announced that 72,000 participants from 196 countries have registered. Among them are 80 presidents, vice presidents, and prime ministers.

French President Emmanuel Macron is not attending the event due to strained relations with Azerbaijan. German Chancellor Olaf Scholz will not participate due to a domestic political crisis, and Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva will not attend due to health reasons.
Armenia has not yet decided whether to attend the summit in Baku.

France’s Minister of Ecology, Agnès Pannier-Runacher, declined to visit Azerbaijan. Speaking on November 13 in the French Senate, Pannier-Runacher stated that she had initially planned to attend but decided against it following sharp criticism of her country by Ilham Aliyev.
Argentine President Javier Milei instructed his delegation representing the government to leave the COP29 summit.

All of this was commented on in the program “Difficult Questions” by Natig Jafarli, chairman of the REAL party.
In his view, the Azerbaijani government has personalized COP29, even though this summit is not an Azerbaijani event but a UN event.
"In fact, what matters is the theme of the summit, as well as the fact that it is a UN event. In my opinion, if this event had not been personalized but conducted as a UN event, the Azerbaijani government would have benefited more," he said.

Jafarli also noted the authorities’ reaction to the presence or absence of certain guests. However, the reasons for this could be diverse. For example, the reason for the absence of French President Emmanuel Macron is the strained relations with Azerbaijan; German Chancellor Olaf Scholz is not attending due to a domestic political crisis; Argentine President Javier Milei may have withdrawn his delegation after consultations with the elected U.S. President Donald Trump, whom he admires. In his first term, Trump withdrew from the Paris Climate Agreement, stating that under the current terms, it was disadvantageous for the United States. He explained that by 2025, the country could have lost 2.7 million jobs if all the agreement's provisions were implemented. Trump is now preparing to pull the United States out of the Paris Climate Agreement once again.

According to Jafarli, "The likely reason for the absence of Russian President Vladimir Putin, which is a positive development in itself, is the lack of an agreement for meetings with foreign leaders."
As for the absence of Armenian representatives, the politician noted that Yerevan’s attempt to set conditions was unsuccessful. "They wanted to negotiate, setting the release of those under investigation, including 'Karabakh State Minister' Ruben Vardanyan, 'former presidents' Bako Sahakyan, Arkady Gukasyan, Araik Harutyunyan, and 'former speaker of parliament' Davit Ishkhanyan, as a condition for participation in COP29. However, their request was denied," he explained.