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Azerbaijan, UNESCO and SIDS group of 39 countries to develop joint program

01 May 2026 18:15 (UTC +04:00)

Deputy Foreign Minister of Azerbaijan Yalchin Rafiyev visited Paris, France on April 30 – May 1, the Azerbaijani Ministry of Foreign Affairs told APA.

During the visit, Deputy Minister Y. Rafiyev, at the invitation of Executive Director of the International Energy Agency Fatih Birol, spoke as one of the keynote speakers at the opening session of the event titled “IEA–COP31: High-Level Energy Transition,” jointly organized by the International Energy Agency and the COP31 Presidency.

Within the framework of the visit, a business event dedicated to April 25 – the International Day of Small Island Developing States (SIDS) – was also held at UNESCO, organized by the Permanent Delegation of Azerbaijan. Y. Rafiyev, speaking at the event, expressed satisfaction with the level of development of relations between Azerbaijan and SIDS, and emphasized that, under the instruction of President Ilham Aliyev, special attention is paid to small island states and continuous support is provided in the field of international assistance for development.

Permanent representatives of SIDS countries to UNESCO who participated in the event emphasized that the historic decisions adopted at COP29 under Azerbaijan’s successful presidency are particularly important for these countries, which are vulnerable to climate change, and expressed their gratitude to Azerbaijan for its support in this area.

At the event, an agreement was reached on the preparation and implementation of a joint program aimed at addressing existing challenges in this direction, to be carried out by Azerbaijan, UNESCO, and the SIDS group covering 39 countries.

During the visit, Y. Rafiyev also met with the leadership of Turkey’s COP31 Presidency, and discussed preparations for COP31 to be held in Antalya.