In a bid to garner support for Afghanistan’s inclusion in this year’s climate change summit, COP30, the head of the National Environmental Protection Agency (NEPA), Mati-ul-Haq Khalis, this week met with Azerbaijan’s Ambassador to Kabul Ilham Mammadov.

At the meeting, Khalis noted Azerbaijan had successfully hosted COP29 last year and urged Azerbaijan to support Afghanistan’s wish to actively participate in COP30, which takes place in November in Brazil.

The two officials discussed the impact of climate change on their shared geographic area and Khalis emphasised the importance of enhancing bilateral cooperation in the field of environmental protection.

Mammadov, in turn, highlighted the importance of including Afghanistan in global climate processes and underscored the country’s vulnerability to climate change.

He noted the devastating impact of recent floods in Afghanistan and added that Azerbaijan is ready to share its expertise in renewable energy as it gradually phases out the use of fossil fuels.

This comes after Khalis’ meeting last week with Kazakhstan’s Chargé d’Affaires, Gaziz Akbasov, where he also called for Afghanistan to be included in the year’s summit.

Highlighting shared challenges and commonalities between Afghanistan and Kazakhstan, Khalis called for enhanced bilateral cooperation in areas such as climate adaptation, water and natural resource management, the resumption of stalled environmental projects in Afghanistan, capacity-building for NEPA staff, and the signing of cooperation agreements.

“Kazakhstan has valuable experience in these fields,” Khalis said. “We can greatly benefit from their expertise in responding to climate change.”

He underscored that Afghanistan, despite contributing minimally to global greenhouse gas emissions, is among the countries most severely affected by climate change.

Khalis stressed that Afghan voices must be included in global climate discussions, particularly at COP30.

For his part, Chargé d’Affaires Akbasov reaffirmed Kazakhstan’s support for Afghanistan, saying: “Our mission is to assist Afghanistan in humanitarian and infrastructure development. We will strive to ensure Afghan voices are heard at international forums because climate change and environmental challenges are shared across the region and require collective action.”

Afghanistan was invited as an observer to COP29, marking the first time the Islamic Emirate attended a climate summit since they regained power in 2021.

The IEA government has been actively seeking to participate in COP summits, arguing that their political isolation shouldn’t prevent them from engaging in international climate discussions.