Baku

The president of Azerbaijan, the country hosting the COP29 climate talks, on Tuesday (Nov 12) repeated that oil, gas and other natural resources are a "gift of God."

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"Quote me that I said that this is a gift of God, and I want to repeat it today here at this audience," Ilham Aliyev told delegates at the climate conference in Baku.

"Oil, gas, wind, sun, gold, silver, copper, all are natural resources and countries should not be blamed for having them and should not be blamed for bringing these resources to the market because the market needs them," he further added. 

Criticising the "Western fake news" about his country's emissions,  Aliyev said nations "should not be blamed" for having fossil fuel reserves.

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UN chief António Guterres, just after Aliyev's statement, told the conference that doubling down on the use of fossil fuels was "absurd".

This year has been “a masterclass in human destruction”, the UN secretary general said as he reflected on extreme weather and record temperatures around the world fuelled by climate breakdown. 

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'It Was Not Our Idea' 

Azerbaijan has seven billion barrels of proven oil reserves and was one of the first places in the world to start commercial oil production.

Since gaining independence from the Soviet Union in 1991, Azerbaijan has produced 1.05 billion tonnes of oil and is set to increase its natural gas production by more than a third in the next decade.

Revenues from oil and gas production make up about 35 per cent of the country's GDP and nearly half of the state budget.

About 75 per cent of Azerbaijan's energy exports go to European markets.

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In 2022, the European Commission keen to reduce its dependence on Russian gas, signed a deal with Baku to double gas imports from the country, which was defended by Aliyev during his speech.

"It was not our idea," he said.

"They asked us to help, and we said okay, we will help Europe with energy security."

(With inputs from agencies)