Azerbaijan is tipped to host next year's UN climate summit, after striking a late deal with longtime adversary Armenia over its bid.
According to Reuters, the Azeri bid looked set to win support from other nations at the COP28 climate summit in Dubai this week.
The United Arab Emirates is hosting COP28. Russia has said that it would veto any European Union country's bid to host. It is crucial to note that the EU has sanctioned Moscow over its invasion of Ukraine.
Azerbaijan confirmed late on Thursday it had struck a deal with Armenia that allows Baku to bid to host the COP29 talks without the threat of an Armenian veto. The choice needs support from all countries in the UN's eastern Europe regional group.
“We received particular support from most of the countries [in the eastern European group]. Russia has also supported our bid,” Azerbaijan's Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokesperson Aykhan Hajizada said on Friday.
COP28 is scheduled to conclude on December 12.
(Inputs from Reuters)