Lauren Boland Lauren Boland reports from COP29

AZERBAIJAN’S COP29 LEAD negotiator has refused to comment on Argentina pulling out its delegation from the climate talks and insisted that it has created an “inclusive process” despite a French minister’s decision not to attend amid a diplomatic spat.

Crucial talks are underway at the 29th annual COP, a conference where nearly 200 countries, including Ireland, have sent delegations to try to strike agreements about important climate action measures, including a new global target for climate finance.

But several presidents or prime ministers failed to attend the World Leaders Summit portion of the conference on Tuesday and Wednesday – mostly due to choosing to give precedence to political priorities at home, including Taoiseach Simon Harris – and now, two more countries are distancing themselves from the talks.

After officials spend most of the first week of the conference setting out their country’s positions and red lines, ministers usually land in for the second half of the conference and that’s when agreements can really be forged. 

France’s climate minister Agnès Pannier-Runacher was due to attend the conference next week.

However, Pannier-Runacher will not be among the international group of ministers landing in Baku after Azerbaijan’s President Ilham Aliyev made comments about France that have disgruntled French leaders, including that France (and the Netherlands) are imposing “neocolonialism” on small islands still under the European countries’ control as overseas territories.

French President Emmanuel Macron had already declined to attend the World Leaders’ Summit portion of the conference and now its climate minister will not be joining either – a marked change from the French-hosted COP21 in 2015, where France’s role as host played a key role in getting countries to sign up to the Paris Agreement.

Speaking at a press conference this afternoon, Azerbaijan’s COP29 Lead Negotiator Yalchin Rafiyev said that Azerbaijan has “opened our doors to everybody to come to engage in very constructive, fruitful discussions.”

“Our doors are still open,” Rafiyev said.

Meanwhile, Argentina has walked away from the talks entirely, pulling its negotiators out of the conference.

Argentina’s far-right President Javier Milei is a climate change denier. He is travelling to the US today and tomorrow to meet Donald Trump and Elon Musk after Trump’s recent win in the US election. 

Rafiyev refused to comment on Argentina’s sudden withdrawal, calling it a “bilateral matter between Argentina and the United Nations”.