COP29 sees promising engagement on NCQG, but pace must accelerate Chief negotiator warns

The COP29 chairmanship is observing promising signs of parties beginning to engage on various aspects of the New Collective Quantitative Goal (NCQG), said COP29 Chief Negotiator Yalchin Rafiyev during a press conference in Baku on November 15.

"As for the NCQG negotiations, yesterday you heard my call to the parties to make wise use of the precious time we have. We encouraged them to communicate directly with each other and to take responsibility for developing joint solutions," he said, Caliber.Az reports via local media.

"I am pleased to report that we are seeing encouraging signs of engagement among the parties on various elements of the goal, especially those that are considered ‘low-hanging fruit’," Rafiyev added.

However, Rafiyev expressed concern about the current pace of discussions. "We cannot afford to leave too many unresolved issues and push their resolution to the political level summit," he emphasized. "We urge everyone to intensify their work and remain focused on making significant progress [on NCQG]."

On Thursday, November 14, Rafiyev called for the preparation and presentation of a draft agreement on the NCQG to take place in Baku. During that day’s press conference, he highlighted the ongoing collaborative efforts at COP29.

"At COP29, we are working closely with the co-chairs of the NCQG contact group, Fiona Hibbert from Australia and Zahir Faqir from South Africa," Rafiyev noted. "We are grateful to both of them for their hard work and dedication throughout the year. We urge the co-chairs to produce a first version of the draft document as early as possible here at COP29, to serve as a working basis for discussions for the first time in this three-year technical process."

Rafiyev acknowledged the draft document's importance, even in its initial form, as a crucial step in identifying consensus areas and addressing challenges. "Nevertheless, the draft text requires further refinement," he added. "There are many options still to be worked through, and we expect a range of opinions. Everyone will have the chance to express their position, and we are eager to hear the reactions of all participants."

By Tamilla Hasanova