POLITICS
Washington hosts Green Finance Leadership Summit: Heading to COP29

Co-organized by the United States-Azerbaijan Chamber of Commerce (USACC), International Trade Administration and the U.S. Department of Commerce, the Green Finance Leadership Summit: Heading to COP29 was held within the COP29 at the Johns Hopkins University in Washington, the U.S.

Dignitaries present at the function included representatives of the Azerbaijani embassy in the United States, as well as representatives of the US public and private sectors, and academic circles.

In his opening remarks, Natig Bakhishov, Executive Director of the USACC, said that the summit seeks to unite key stakeholders from the public and private sectors, as well as the scientific community, to discuss and promote the critical role of green finance and data-driven decision-making in combating climate change. According to him, these discussions would be beneficial in building the necessary partnerships and strategies for a low-carbon and sustainable future for both Azerbaijan and the global community during Azerbaijan’s COP29 presidency.

Highlighting the long-term cooperation between U.S. Department of Commerce and the US-Azerbaijan Chamber of Commerce, Heather Evans, Deputy Assistant Secretary for Manufacturing Industry and Analysis at the U.S. Department of Commerce, noted that the US commends the cooperation with Azerbaijan, which has come a long way for more than three decades. In this regard, he described COP29 as a valuable platform for reinforcing bilateral economic cooperation. Providing insights into the work done by the U.S. leadership in green finance, Heather Evans said that the U.S. considers Baku-hosted COP29 as an opportunity to highlight the innovations of the US industry, to develop partnerships between the public and private sectors, to assist in addressing global climate crisis, as well as to continue enhancing trade cooperation, and work with global partners, including Azerbaijan.

In their remarks, Azerbaijani Ambassador to the United States Khazar Ibrahim, as well as Deputy Minister of Energy Elnur Soltanov, highlighted the significance of global collaboration to address climate challenges and the severe consequences of inaction. They also mentioned the key topic of Azerbaijan's COP29 Presidency, which is related to climate finance.

The conference followed with panel discussions. Representatives of the U.S. Department of Energy, the Export-Import Bank of the United States (EXIM), "Goldman Sachs", "Boston Consulting Group", "Carlyle", "Boeing", "Honeywell", "Leidos" and other organizations and companies, small and medium business representatives and experts engaged in discussions on the topics such as mobilizing financial resources for sustainable projects, building resilience and reducing financial risks, transition to a low-carbon economy and science-based decision-making in the green transition.

Malahat Najafova

Special correspondent