I am pleased to participate in this important session of the World Urban Forum dedicated to the role of cities as centers of connectivity, post-urbanization reconstruction and regional cooperation.
Modern.az reports that these ideas were voiced by the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Azerbaijan Jeyhun Bayramov at a special session on “Cities at the center of connection: urban reconstruction and regional cooperation” within the framework of the 13th Session of the World Urban Forum (WUF13) held in Baku.
He noted that today cities are no longer just places where people live and work.
“They are increasingly becoming strategic platforms where diplomacy, trade, infrastructure, ecology, climate action and regional cooperation intersect.
The future of sustainable development will depend on how successfully we connect cities to each other. This connection must be built not only physically, but also economically, digitally, institutionally and socially”.
The minister recalled that about two years ago, Azerbaijan, which hosted COP29, identified urbanization and cities as one of the main directions of the global climate agenda:
“We understood that cities, in addition to forming a significant part of global emissions, are also one of the main sources of innovation, sustainability and solutions to the climate crisis.
Through these initiatives, Azerbaijan has managed to create synergies that contribute to cities taking a stronger place at the center of multilateral discussions”, - C.Bayramov noted.
