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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A serviceman of the Azerbaijani army Salmanov Ziyad Ilgar oglu received injuries on December 20 at about 12:00 after blowing up by an anti-personnel mine on the conditional border with Armenia in the direction of the Sadarak region. The serviceman was urgently hospitalized, there is no threat to his life.
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As a result of the night shelling of Kyiv by Russian missiles, the Azerbaijani restaurant "Shakh-plov" in the center of the Ukrainian capital was seriously damaged.
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By orders of the President of Azerbaijan dated December 20th, Tofig Musayev has been appointed as the Permanent Representative of Azerbaijan to the United Nations.
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Jeyhun Novruzov, an activist of the Popular Front Party of Azerbaijan (PFPA), who was arrested administratively for 10 days, has complained about ill-treatment at the police station. This was reported by his lawyer, Nemat Kerimli, who met with Novruzov today at the Detention Center for those arrested administratively.
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