Sen. Ben Cardin Expresses Concern with Azerbaijan Hosting COP29 Climate Conference

WASHINGTON, DC — Sen. Ben Cardin (D-Md.), chair of the US Senate Foreign Relations Committee, expressed concern on Monday with Azerbaijan hosting the COP29 climate conference in November, pointing to the country imprisoning Armenian and pro-environmental activists, The Hill reports.

Cardin, in a statement, said “hosting a major international conference like COP29 should come with responsibilities and expectations that host countries allow frank discussion of information and issues, which requires recognizing freedoms of speech and assembly.”

“Azerbaijan has not done so,” he said, urging the country’s president, Ilham Aliyev, “to release those unjustly imprisoned by his government, including Armenian detainees, and community activists who peacefully demonstrated against poor labor practices and harmful environmental impacts of the Chovdar gold mine operation.”

Azerbaijan is setting “ridiculous” conditions to avoid signing an Armenian-Azerbaijani peace treaty that is “not going to be fair” to Armenia, according to Senator Cardin.

“If I understand it, they’re not even talking about taking care of Nagorno-Karabakh from the point of view of access by the community that’s been displaced,” he said. “They’re not even talking about the border issues as far as the areas that are currently under control by Azerbaijan in Armenia. So it’s not really a very fair agreement.”

“With all that being said, my understanding is that Armenia wants to move forward with the agreement because that’s the only way they are going to be able to get their borders opened and get their country economically on the right path,” he said.