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COP29 host Azerbaijan promoted fossil fuel offers ahead of environment top, NGO says.

An official with Azerbaijan's. Presidency of next week's United Nations COP29 environment top. appeared to provide to assist in speak about new nonrenewable fuel source. deals ahead of the conference, according to a video secretly. tape-recorded by an advocacy group.

In an examination initially reported by the BBC, non-profit. group Global Witness, which advocates against corruption, said. it had established a fake business to express interest in buying. Azerbaijan's national oil and gas business SOCAR, and in. sponsoring the yearly climate top.

In the video, tape-recorded by Worldwide Witness, Elnur Soltanov,. CEO of the COP29 talks in Baku aimed at tackling worldwide warming,. deals to introduce a representative of the sham oil and gas. company, called EC Capital, to SOCAR.

We have a great deal of pipeline infrastructure. We have a lot of. gas fields that are to be established. We have a great deal of green. tasks that SOCAR is very interested in, Soltanov, who is. Azerbaijan's deputy energy minister, said in the video. Reuters. was unable to separately validate the video.

There are a great deal of joint endeavors that could be. established, prospective joint endeavors.

SOCAR Trading is trading oil and gas all over the world,. including in Asia. To me, these are the possibilities to. explore. But in any case this is something that you need to be. speaking to SOCAR, and I would be happy to produce a contact. in between yourself and them, Soltanov says.

SOCAR then reached out to the phony oil and gas financial investment. group and revealed interest in a meeting, Global Witness said.

Soltanov did not react to requests for remark.

SOCAR representatives could not instantly be gotten in touch with for. comment late on Friday.

Azerbaijan's COP29 presidency-- the summit's host, which is. led by Minister of Ecology and Natural Resources Mukhtar Babayev. -- decreased to comment to Reuters.

Oil and gas make up roughly half of Azerbaijan's. economy, and 90% of its exports.

In 2015, dripped files acquired by the Centre for. Climate Reporting showed that COP28 host United Arab Emirates. planned to discuss possible natural gas and other industrial. deals ahead of the U.N. climate talks. At the time, COP28. President Sultan Al Jaber, the top representative for the UAE,. rejected the claims.

If this is the 2nd year in a row where petro-states have. been able to take on the presidency and have had the ability to use. ( their) position as president to additional nonrenewable fuel source interests,. then I believe that does raise huge questions for the U.N. and the. kind of rules and standards in place for how countries tackle. in performing this presidency, said Simon Roach, a senior. private investigator with Global Witness.

The United Nations Structure Convention on Climate Modification. did not right away react to an ask for comment.

COP29, which begins on Monday, is supposed to assist countries. build off an arrangement made in Dubai in 2015 to shift. away from fossil fuels.

(source: Reuters)