Ilham Aliyev addresses Summit of Small Island States

Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev addressed the Leaders’ Summit of the Small Islands Developing States on Climate Change held on November 13 in Baku as part of COP29.

He recalled that the leaders from Bahamas, Congo, and Tuvalu visited Azerbaijan this May to discuss their vision for COP.

"The adopted Baku Communique called for a meaningful outcome at COP29 and underscored the importance of accessible climate finance. Serious progress was achieved on making operational the Loss and Damage Fund in Baku this September. Now, the process must be completed to deliver finance to countries in need, in particular small island states,” Ilham Aliyev said.

Azerbaijan is demonstrating its unwavering support for small islands states, providing assistance to a number of disaster-hit countries in mitigating the impact of hurricanes, earthquakes, and floods, the Azerbaijani leader said.

“We have also supported water supply, food security, and the restoration of cultural heritage projects. More than 10 small island states have benefited from our educational grant program to study at universities in Azerbaijan,” Ilham Aliyev said.

According to him, Azerbaijan will continue to support small island states in the future.

French Polynesia and New Caledonia have been recognized as non-self-governing territories by the UN, but their decolonization process is still delayed, he said.

"French Polynesia faced serious environmental degradation due to 193 nuclear tests conducted by France. France is responsible for severe soil and water contamination and radiation there. If we add the 17 nuclear tests conducted by France in Algeria during the years of occupation, we will see what damage this country made to the ecosystem of the planet,” Ilham Aliyev said.

The head of state highlighted incidents of human rights violations by France in overseas territories, pointing out that during protests in New Caledonia, numerous citizens were killed and injured by the Macron regime.