President Asif Ali Zardari has underlined the need for global efforts to address the challenge of climate change by adopting environment-friendly technology, promoting afforestation, and reducing greenhouse gas emissions.

He expressed these views while talking to Minister of Ecology and Natural Resources of Azerbaijan Mukhtar Babayev, who along with a delegation called on the President in Islamabad today.

President Zardari highlighted that global warming and climate change are affecting the glaciers and causing water scarcity.

He said tackling these challenges requires global support to mitigate their adverse impacts.

Welcoming the Minister, the President congratulated Azerbaijan on winning the bid to host COP 29. He expressed the hope that COP 29 would result in setting the New Collective Quantified Goal on Finance that would help developing countries fulfill their climate finance needs.

He highlighted that Pakistan has planted mangrove forests over hundreds of thousands of hectares that would help protect the environment, besides earning carbon credits for Pakistan.

The President said that Pakistan highly values its relations with Azerbaijan and wants to further expand bilateral cooperation in the areas of common interest.

He called for promoting more interactions, bilateral exchanges and people-to-people contacts to further cement relations between the two brotherly countries.

On the occasion, Mukhtar Babayev underlined the need for further enhancing bilateral cooperation between Pakistan and Azerbaijan, particularly in the area of tourism and culture.

Being the COP 29 President-designate, he also delivered the invitation to the President Zardari to participate in COP 29 in Baku in November this year.

The President conveyed his best wishes for the successful hosting of COP 29 and expressed the hope that Azerbaijan would play its role to secure the interest of developing countries in meeting their financing needs for climate adaptation.