Azerbaijan Hosts Third Shamakhy Climate Meeting with 34 Nations Participation

An unofficial third Shamakhy climate conference was convened on 22‑23 July under Azerbaijan’s organization and the co‑hosting of Turkey and Australia, supporting the COP31 presidency. More than 70 officials from the UNFCCC Secretariat and delegations of 34 countries attended, including ministers, deputy ministers, heads of state climate envoys and leaders of UNFCCC negotiation groups. The agenda covered climate finance, a just transition, adaptation, greenhouse‑gas mitigation and the work programme of the upcoming COP31. Delegates also examined the outcomes of the 64th Bonn session of UNFCCC subsidiary bodies and discussed how the meeting’s discussions could feed into decisions at the COP31 summit. Speeches were delivered by Azerbaijan’s Deputy Foreign Minister Yalçın Rəfiyev, Turkey’s Deputy Minister of Environment, Urban Planning and Climate Change Fatma Varank, and COP31 Vice‑President Salli Boks, with video messages from President Ilham Aliyev’s climate representative Muxtar Babayev and Brazil’s Climate Minister Ana Tonini.