On May 13, Tofiga Falani, Governor-General of Tuvalu, Siaosi ‘Ofakivahafolau Sovaleni Hu’akavameiliku, Prime Minister of the Kingdom of Tonga and Frederick Audley Mitchell, Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Commonwealth of the Bahamas visited Azerbaijan to deliberate on global climate as well as the COP29 priorities of these countries. Received by President Ilham Aliyev, the delegation congratulated Azerbaijan on assuming the COP29 Presidency, expressing their support to the country in this honourable and responsible role.

Following the meeting, the top officials of the three states most affected by climate change due to their geographical location issued the Baku communique.

The communiqué extends gratitude to President Ilham Aliyev for his attentiveness within the framework of the COP29 Presidency to the challenges encountered by small island developing states. It expresses confidence that COP29 will serve as an inclusive, transparent, and neutral platform.

The communique underlined the adverse impacts of the climate change, which affect livelihoods, security, and well-being of people and the ecosystem, and impede the progress towards achieving the Sustainable Development Goals and objectives of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change and the Paris Agreement.

“We emphasize the importance of strengthening peace, relief and recovery aiming at increased climate resilience, and welcome an inclusive approach by the COP29 Presidency on these matters,” the statement reads.

The communique commended the cooperation and dialogue between the small island states, whose existential threat is increasingly threatened by global warming and COP29. It also made a call for increasing resilience to climate change, to take urgent global action and strengthen solidarity.