The Baku Initiative on Climate Finance, Investments, and Trade (BICFIT) was launched during COP29’s Finance, Investments, and Trade Day, marking a new effort to bolster climate goals through innovative global collaboration.
The BICFIT dialogue, a key initiative of COP29’s presidency, is set to be implemented in partnership with UNCTAD, UNDP, WTO, and the International Trade Centre. The event featured contributions from international organizations, multilateral development banks, climate funds, and global think tanks, supporting the UNFCCC and the Paris Agreement.
Azerbaijan's Economy Minister Mikayil Jabbarov emphasized the initiative's significance for promoting climate-oriented trade policies, particularly for developing countries. The BICFIT dialogue aims to attract foreign direct investment, enhance climate finance capacities, and foster institutional partnerships for a sustainable transition.
Leading partners, including UNCTAD’s Rebeca Grynspan and UNDP’s Achim Steiner, delivered opening remarks. The session, moderated by Tim Cheston of Harvard’s Growth Lab and Patricia Ellen da Silva of Aya Coalition, featured speeches from WTO Director-General Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, ITC Executive Director Pamela Coke-Hamilton, and IFC Executive Director Makhtar Diop.
Participants from various sectors discussed innovative approaches to integrating climate finance, investments, and trade policy, emphasizing the need for coordinated international cooperation to align climate actions with sustainable development goals. Ministers from Morocco, Egypt, UAE, Brazil, and Australia voiced strong support for the initiative.
COP29 Chief Negotiator Yalchin Rafiev underscored the broad representation and collaborative discussions as evidence of the need for a multi-sectoral and multilateral approach to climate challenges. The BICFIT platform is expected to facilitate knowledge exchange, promote climate investments, and accelerate project development aligned with climate objectives.
The event concluded with the adoption of a Joint Declaration on the BICFIT Dialogue by past, current, and future COP presidents, highlighting the commitment to fostering global partnerships for a green transition.
Politics
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Norwegian Minister of International Development, Anne Beathe Tvinnereim, who traveled to Baku for COP29, met with political prisoner Gubad Ibadoglu, a professor at the London School of Economics and Dresden University of Technology, who is currently under police surveillance and under house arrest. Minister Tvinnereim, representing the Norwegian government, inquired about the restrictions imposed on Ibadoglu, his health condition, and the progress of the investigation into the charges against him.
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Within the framework of the COP29 climate conference in Baku, on the initiative of the Azerbaijani football club "Karabakh" with the participation of world-famous teams, the Football Club Climate Alliance was established.
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On November 16, at the venue of the 29th session of the Conference of the Parties to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (COP29) in Baku, environmental activists held rallies demanding that industrialized countries pay for the fight against climate change and respect the rights of people living in forest areas.
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Lise Christoffersen, Co-Rapporteur of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) Monitoring Committee for Azerbaijan, has voiced serious concern over the deteriorating health of civil society activists Anar Mammadli and Gubad Ibadoghlu.
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