“I am very pleased to be here this morning. I would like to express my gratitude to the leaders and representatives of the African Development Bank Group and the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) and stress the importance of this high-level meeting for discussions and progress in changing attitudes. Recent disasters brought home the reality of climate change. COP29 is an opportunity to demonstrate to the world our collective commitment to confront the climate crisis,” Yalchin Rafiyev, COP29 Lead Negotiator, Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs of Azerbaijan, said on the fourth day of the 29th session of the Conference of the Parties to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change.

Rafiyev highlighted that public financing plays a pivotal role in meeting collective climate objectives and emphasized the urgent need to rapidly scale up financing from all sources to assist developing nations.

“Climate finance provides ample opportunity to achieve the Paris Agreement goals, including reducing greenhouse gas emissions. However, reports state that current financing is insufficient. Thus, addressing climate change requires not only significant financial resources, but also a well-designed financial system that ensures sustainability, stability and affordability without exacerbating already unsustainable debt levels in developing countries,” he noted

The COP29 Lead Negotiator emphasized the imperative making climate finance both widely affordable and accessible. He also mentioned the "New Collective Quantitative Target" agreement in climate financing based on developing countries' needs and priorities, describing it as a key priority of COP29 negotiations.