Azerbaijan's president leads key energy talks at Davos Green transformation and climate action take center stage

The World Economic Forum (WEF), which kicked off on January 20 in Davos, proved to be highly productive for advancing Azerbaijan's economic agenda on the global stage. In particular, Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev, who arrived in Switzerland on a working visit to participate in the forum, held a series of meetings with heads of state, influential international organizations, and media representatives. The discussions between Economy Minister Mikayil Jabbarov and Minister of Ecology and Natural Resources Mukhtar Babayev also yielded positive results, focusing on aspects of the energy transition and financing climate change mitigation efforts.

The opportunities presented by the Davos platform for discussions and finding compromises to overcome current and anticipated crises are in high demand today. This particularly concerns the growing risks of a potential global economic downturn amid trade, customs, tariffs, and other conflicts between the leading economic centres of the world. Energy-related issues remain highly relevant due to the inseparable link between geo-economic concerns and the current, complex geopolitical landscape. For five days, WEF participants will discuss new mechanisms for global economic growth, adapting business strategies to key geo-economic and technological changes, as well as exploring the prospects for attracting investments in human capital development and creating new jobs in the IT sector. They will also address the application of environmentally clean technologies.

Participation in the World Economic Forum (WEF) is of great importance for Azerbaijan, as it provides a valuable international platform for showcasing the country's achievements, strategic projects, and future cooperation prospects with global partners. Notably, the WEF organizers extend an invitation to Azerbaijan's president every year to take part in the forum. For several decades, as a regular guest of Davos, the President of Azerbaijan has engaged in numerous meetings with world leaders, heads of major global companies, and prominent entrepreneurs. He has also given interviews to international media and participated in panel discussions. This year is expected to be no different, with the President set to present Azerbaijan's stance on a variety of international issues, sharing the nation's successes, experience, and plans for tackling social, political, and economic challenges.

In particular, ahead of the forum, President Ilham Aliyev held a meeting in Davos with the President of Latvia, Edgars Rinkēvičs. The Latvian President emphasized the importance of the meeting, which created a valuable opportunity to discuss bilateral relations, and expressed condolences to President Aliyev regarding the recent airplane crash. Thanking him for the condolences, President Ilham Aliyev, in turn, highlighted the significance of the meeting for discussing the prospects of cooperation between the two countries.

Bilateral relations, as well as the prospects for developing cooperation between Azerbaijan and the European Union, became a key topic during President Ilham Aliyev's negotiations with German Chancellor Olaf Scholz. The German leader expressed support for Azerbaijan's efforts to ensure lasting peace and stability in the South Caucasus region and inquired about the progress of the investigation into the recent Azerbaijani Airlines (AZAL) passenger plane crash.

Equally productive were the talks between the President of Azerbaijan and the President of Israel, Isaac Herzog, during which successful cooperation in trade and economics, as well as the effective work of the joint intergovernmental commission, were noted.

The successes achieved during the COP29 climate conference, issues related to the development of bilateral relations, the organization of direct flights, the work of the intergovernmental commission, as well as the expansion of business contacts between the two countries, were discussed during meetings between President Ilham Aliyev and the President of Iraq, Abdel Latif Jamal Rashid, as well as with the Prime Minister of the Kurdistan Region of Iraq, Masrour Barzani.

During the current forum, President Ilham Aliyev met in Davos with the CEO of Oliver Wyman Group, Nick Studer. The discussions focused on the prospects for cooperation between Oliver Wyman Group and various structures in Azerbaijan on strategic management issues. Topics included economic transformation processes, different sectors of the domestic financial market, projects in the energy sector, including both traditional and "green" energy, agricultural product exports, and the localization of the value chain, covering new trade opportunities in the region.

The negotiations between the President of Azerbaijan and Jared Cohen, Head of Global Affairs at The Goldman Sachs Group Inc., were equally successful. It was highlighted that the prestigious banking group has been working closely with the State Oil Fund of Azerbaijan and other state institutions since 2010. Their collaboration has been instrumental in supporting the development of Azerbaijan's financial sector and expanding the country's international investment opportunities.

During his meeting with President Ilham Aliyev, Sultan Ahmed bin Sulayem, CEO of DP World, highlighted Azerbaijan's pivotal role as a regional transport hub and explored potential areas of cooperation. DP World, one of the largest port operators globally, manages around 80 commercial ports in various countries, underlining its significant presence in international trade.

Productive talks also took place between the President of Azerbaijan and Jakob Aarup-Andersen, CEO of Carlsberg Group. The brewing company, which has an active presence in the Azerbaijani market, is steadily increasing its level of production localization and expanding its investment in the country, benefiting from Azerbaijan's favourable investment climate.

In line with a long-standing tradition, President Ilham Aliyev continued his engagement with global media representatives, giving an interview to the Chinese television channel CGTN (China Global Television Network) during his current visit to Davos.

Notably, key topics of discussion at the WEF forum in recent years continue to be energy security, the development of new "green" trends, and the implementation of steps to meet the UN climate agenda. 

"As part of President Ilham Aliyev’s participation in the Davos Economic Forum, we attended the ‘Leaders Circle: Financing the Energy Transition – A New Horizon’ session. We engaged in valuable discussions on the key opportunities and challenges for a successful energy transformation, as well as the financing of the energy transition,” wrote Mikayil Jabbarov, Minister of Economy of Azerbaijan, who is currently participating in the forum in Davos, on his social media page. “We also exchanged views on Azerbaijan’s active initiatives in ensuring global energy security and reliable energy supply as a trusted partner, maintaining a fair approach, advancing the green energy transition strategy, and the results achieved at COP29, which was hosted by our country."

Climate challenges remain one of the key priorities at this year’s World Economic Forum, particularly in the wake of recent extreme weather events. As a result, the forum’s agenda includes discussions on the development and financing of "green" technologies globally.

Mukhtar Babayev, Azerbaijan’s Minister of Ecology and Natural Resources and President of COP29, emphasized the importance of increasing global contributions to the fight against climate change. "These expectations amount to trillions, but we decided to put the figures on paper and think about how to increase them," Babayev stated during the WEF session on the "Road to COP30." He highlighted that Azerbaijan has already developed a program aimed at raising climate financing contributions to $1.3 trillion.

A significant achievement of COP29, according to Babayev, was the historic agreement to allocate $300 billion to developing countries, a milestone described as a major success for the global community.

The minister also reflected on a significant achievement reached in Baku after a decade of discussions—the agreement on Article 6, which deals with carbon markets, registration, authorization, and other key aspects. This breakthrough has opened the door for private sector involvement and large-scale projects focused on the green economy and climate initiatives.

Looking ahead to 2025, Babayev expressed optimism regarding the opportunities that lie ahead, urging for tangible action: "We need to think about how to take on these commitments and ensure their implementation." He underscored the importance of continued global cooperation to support the COP30 team and to advance climate initiatives, including national adaptation plans, updated Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs), and Biennial Transparency Reports (BTRs) for 2024–2025.