President Ilham Aliyev Addresses Participants Of 4Th Int'l Conference On Small Island Developing States

(MENAFN- AzerNews) President of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev has addressed theparticipants of the 4th International conference on Small IslandDeveloping States on themed“Charting the course toward resilientprosperity”, Azernews reports.

"Ladies and gentlemen,

Azerbaijan has always been in solidarity with the Small IslandDeveloping States (SIDS) and promoted their legitimate interestsand concerns.

During the 4-year-long Azerbaijani Chairmanship to theNon-Aligned Movement (NAM), we spared no effort to advance theMovement's agenda. Special emphasis was placed on the institutionaldevelopment of the NAM, strengthening the unity of the Movement andincreasing its visibility.

Leading the NAM gave Azerbaijan an opportunity to betterunderstand the needs and concerns of all its Member States,including SIDS.

As the NAM Chair, Azerbaijan led global efforts to fight theCOVID-19 pandemic and initiated the UN Special Session on thismatter. Azerbaijan spoke against vaccine nationalism advocating forfair and universal access to vaccines for all countries.

During the pandemic Azerbaijan also provided more than 80countries, including around 20 SIDS, with financial andhumanitarian support.

Last March, in my capacity of the NAM Chair, I made a Globalcall to action on supporting post-pandemic recovery in SIDS. Withthat call I invited the international community to render financialassistance and direct economic support to SIDS to addresssocio-economic consequences of the pandemic. Azerbaijan was thefirst country to allocate funds to this call.

Ladies and gentlemen,

This year, Azerbaijan has the honor to host the COP29. Theunanimous support to Azerbaijan's COP29 bid reflects theinternational community's respect and trust in Azerbaijan.

Climate change affects all countries across every continent is also negatively impacted by climate change. Ourrivers are losing water, the Caspian Sea is shrinking.

Yet, SIDS are the most vulnerable nations to climate change no contribution to climate change these nations face itsworst effects and even existential threat. Climate change alsoimpedes their progress towards achieving the SustainableDevelopment Goals.

During our COP29 Presidency addressing the challenges posed byclimate change to SIDS will be among our priorities. We areplanning to hold SIDS Summit during the Baku COP.

We will do our best to ensure that the voices of small islanddeveloping nations are heard loud and clear.

I call on all countries to exert maximum effort to make a dealduring the COP29 that meets the needs and priorities of SIDS.

From our side, Azerbaijan has already been rendering its supportto eliminating the consequences caused by the hurricanes,earthquakes, floods and other natural disasters in a number ofSIDS. We will continue to take practical steps to further assistthese countries. Azerbaijan will allocate funds for the technicalassistance programs through the Commonwealth where 33 SIDS arerepresented, and other international institutions.

We will also extend scholarship opportunities for SIDS nationalsto study at the universities of Azerbaijan. So far, more than 10SIDS have benefited from the Educational Grant Programs provided byAzerbaijan for the Member States of the Organization of IslamicCooperation and the NAM.

Azerbaijan will also facilitate the participation of SIDS at theCOP29.

Ladies and gentlemen,

The slogan we have chosen for the Baku COP –“In solidarity fora Green World” reflects the spirit of our COP29 mission. As we areall facing this situation together, I call on all countries to actin solidarity to save our planet. To achieve this goal, we needpolitical will and multilateralism which Azerbaijan has always beenadvocating for.

I am looking forward to the valuable participation of SIDS headsof States and Governments at the Baku COP29 this November, and wishsuccess to the 4th International Conference on SIDS.

Thank you.

Ilham Aliyev

President of the Republic of Azerbaijan

Baku, 21 May 2024"

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