Ilham Aliyev sums up WUF13, says Azerbaijan’s role has received global recognition

President Ilham Aliyev said in a post on his X account that Azerbaijan had the privilege of hosting WUF13, the second-largest international gathering ever held in the country after COP29.

The head of state congratulated all participants, partners and UN entities, in particular UN-Habitat, on the successful and result-oriented forum. According to him, WUF13, which brought together a record number of nearly 60,000 participants, went down in history as the largest World Urban Forum ever held.

Aliyev noted that the first-ever Leaders’ Segment, convened at Azerbaijan’s initiative, gave new political momentum to the global urban agenda. He emphasized that the forum concluded with the adoption of two important outcome documents — the Chair’s Summary and the Baku Call to Action.

The president recalled that Azerbaijan, which had suffered from urbicide, culturicide and ecocide, is now rebuilding nine cities and hundreds of villages from scratch in Karabakh and East Zangezur. According to him, the international community highly praised Baku’s post-conflict reconstruction efforts, describing them as a valuable example for other post-conflict regions around the world.

Ilham Aliyev also said that the ideas reflected in the forum’s outcome documents — from clean air and sustainable urban development to the protection of cultural heritage and support for Small Island Developing States — would continue to shape the global urban agenda.

The head of state added that amid growing global uncertainty, WUF13 became another contribution by Azerbaijan to strengthening multilateral cooperation and collective efforts for a better future.