Azerbaijan cancels weddings during COP29
Azerbaijani couples will have to wed until after COP29
Originally published on Global Voices
Image by Arzu Geybullayeva
This article was first published on Meydan TV. An edited version is republished here under a content partnership agreement.
Couples in Azerbaijan will have to wait to hold their wedding celebrations until COP29 is over according, to reports by local media. The 29th session of the UN Climate Change Conference (COP29) will convene in Baku, the capital of Azerbaijan this year between November 11–22.
Meydan TV spoke with a number of wedding halls to confirm whether the restrictions were true. And they were. Several wedding halls confirmed to Meydan TV that they were told to decline bookings from November 8–22 to focus on the comfort of the incoming international guests and prevent traffic jams.
Economists interviewed by Meydan TV, say the state should compensate the wedding halls and offer tax benefits. Natig Jafarli told Meydan TV in an interview:
The state should offer compensation for the 14 days of lost revenues because those who work there are daily workers. Their situation is going to be tough, if they wont be working for half of the month. Sadly, I don't think the managers will be making such requests, given that the ownership of these halls belong to officials.
Jafarli also said the wedding halls “have the right to demand compensation. But the issue of tax benefits alone is not the solution to the problem. The state should also pay for their lost revenue.”
Agricultural expert Vahid Maharramli is viewing the recent decision from a capacity point of view, arguing, that the country has limited capacity to carry out global events of such scale and, as a result, is harming people's livelihoods. He questioned why Azerbaijan had to host such events in an interview with MedanTV:
There are already a number of restrictions introduced as a result of COP29. Why aren't we allowed to live our lives normally? Every time, Azerbaijan holds an international event, there are restrictions being introduced. Stopping the work of wedding halls, does not only impact their owners, but also the people employed there.
In an interview with Abzas Media, lawyer Asabali Mustafayev said because Azerbaijan does not have any relevant legislation on the management of such situations, “it is unclear which kind of steps should be taken [for affected business]. During the pandemic, the government told people to stay at home and compensated both individuals as well as businesses.” Imposing restrictions during COP29 which affect businesses directly, should have similar measures noted Mustafayev.
There have been no official statements from the relevant government institutions on potential compensation.
Price hikes and inflation
At the end of June, the country saw an increase in tariffs for gasoline, diesel, public transport, and household waste transportation. According to the Tariff Council, the state agency in charge of setting local prices, the decision to raise the price for diesel fuel was environmental given the impact of diesel fuel on the environment. Experts think otherwise and say the hikes are the government's attempt to offset declining oil and gas revenues through price hikes while dressing up those price hikes as solving “ecological problems.” Meanwhile, the capital Baku is under mass renovation as city residents cope with scorching heat, traffic jams due to road closures, and the dust from reconstruction.
Independent experts predicted that the price of basic food products would rise, once the government raised fuel costs. And rise they did. For instance, farmers said the increase in fuel costs affected everything from plowing and transportation to harvesting. Maharramli, the agriculture expert, predicts farmers’ costs have increased by AZN 60 million (approximately USD 35.2 thousand) based on the data made available by the State Statistical Committee, which will lead to the costs of all goods and products t0 increase in the coming months.
On July 11, the State Statistical Committee also reported an increase in food staples such as flour, pasta, red meat, and eggs as well as olive oil, fruits, and vegetables.
Other independent economists like Rovshan Aghayev also predict inflation as a result of recent hikes. In an interview with Meydan TV, Aghayev said that given the monthly costs per household on public transportation and gasoline which is over 10 percent an additional one percent inflation should be expected in the fall. Azerbaijan Central Bank estimates 1.5 percent inflation as a result of the increased tariffs.
Natig Jafarli also expects hikes on household utilities too. “Expenses are growing, revenues are decreasing, and this is just the beginning. Household utilities are also going to rise, and by 2025, manat will be losing value,” Jafarli told Meydan TV.
Ahead of COP29, the capital Baku, has undergone massive repair and reconstruction. Residents who spoke to Global Voices complained of traffic jams and rerouted public transportation routes which now make a regular journey twice if not thrice the length. Economist Natig Jafarli in an interview with Meydan TV said some AZN 470 million (approximately USD 277 million) were allocated for city-wide renovation work ahead of COP29. “These works illustrate that this government cares more about making an impression for its international guests, not impressing its citizens,” Jafarli told Meydan TV. Officially the authorities and the organizing committee have not disclosed the total budget allocated for these renovation projects nor for financing the whole event.
Some experts estimate the indirect expenses for COP29 to exceed USD 1 billion, including expenditure on infrastructure, hotel, transport, logistics, communication, and security.