Representing President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, the institution attended the opening session of the 13th World Urban Forum (WUF13) organized by the United Nations Human Settlements Program (UN-Habitat) in Baku, hosted by Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev.
Participating in the programs organized within the scope of the forum, Minister Kurum held bilateral meetings where issues such as Türkiye’s hosting of COP31, cooperation studies in the fields of urbanism and housing, sustainable planning and infrastructure were discussed.
Minister Kurum first met with Halfan al-Shuayli, Minister of Housing and Urbanization of the Sultanate of Oman.
Sharing the meeting on its social media account, Kurum said, “We evaluated cooperation opportunities for the future of our cities and shared our experience in construction activities. We continue our international contacts with the goal of resilient, environmentally friendly and sustainable cities.” he said.
The institution then held a bilateral meeting with Azerbaijani Energy Minister Parviz Shahbazov.
During the meeting, the “Memorandum of Understanding on Technical Cooperation on Energy Efficiency in Buildings” was signed between the two countries.
It was decided to establish a joint working group between the two countries to share experience on energy efficiency practices.
Minister Kurum then met with Majid al-Hukayil, Minister of Municipality, Rural Affairs and Housing of Saudi Arabia.
Making a statement to the press after his contacts, Kurum said that the relations between Turkey and Azerbaijan are increasing day by day, for the people of the two countries, for the interests and future of all the people of the country, on the basis of the law of brotherhood put forward by Presidents Erdoğan and Aliyev.
The institution said, “On this issue, we are working as much as we can, together with our relevant interlocutors, brothers and friends, to strengthen Türkiye-Azerbaijan relations.” he said.
Stating that he had productive meetings in Azerbaijan, Kurum said, “We will continue to show this determination that will strengthen our relations with Azerbaijan and further increase our strategic cooperation. We want to be two strong states in our region and fight this fight together for our region and for a world where security and peace prevail.” he said.
The institution reminded that they organized the Resilient Cities Program in Hatay about a week ago. Referring to the 500 thousand housing projects that were implemented in the earthquake zone in a short period of 2 years under the leadership of President Erdoğan, Kurum said that they explained that these structures, with their infrastructure and superstructure, were implemented within the framework of the climate-resistant urbanism model.
Stating that they share the work done by Türkiye in the earthquake zone wherever they go, Kurum noted that one of the topics on the action agenda of COP31 will be resilient cities.
Stating that Azerbaijan hosted a successful COP organization, the institution said, “We will also benefit from Azerbaijan’s COP29 term presidency experience. We will take into account the decisions taken in Baku at COP31. But we want COP31 to be an action agenda and an implementation COP. From now on, it will be a COP where we will say ‘stop’ to this bad trend of the world.” he said.
Pointing out the importance of concrete steps in the fight against climate change, the Authority stated that they aim for a process in which the decisions taken can be implemented, financing is increased and access to clean energy is strengthened.
Emphasizing that millions of people do not have access to energy and that the effects of climate crises are increasing, the institution said, “Frankly, we expect everyone here to take responsibility. We will fight for this.” he said.
Noting that Türkiye will carry out the COP31 process in close cooperation with Azerbaijan, Kurum said, “We will make COP31 successful together with our Azerbaijani friends.” he said.
