Minister Kurum Represents Türkiye at World Urban Forum, Advances Resilient Cities Agenda Ahead of COP31

COP31 President-Designate signs energy efficiency agreement with Azerbaijan and holds bilateral meetings with Oman and Saudi Arabia on sustainable urbanization at WUF13 in Baku

Minister of Environment, Urbanization and Climate Change and COP31 President-Designate Murat Kurum participated in the 13th World Urban Forum (WUF13), held in Baku, Azerbaijan, as part of Türkiye’s ongoing COP31 Presidency process, using the platform to advance discussions on resilient cities and sustainable urban development ahead of November’s climate summit in Antalya.

Linking Urban Resilience to the COP31 Agenda

The World Urban Forum, convened periodically by UN-Habitat, serves as one of the world’s premier gatherings for policymakers, urban planners, and international leaders to address housing, urbanization, and city-level resilience challenges. Given the close relationship between urban planning and climate outcomes — spanning energy consumption in buildings, disaster resilience, and infrastructure emissions — the forum has increasingly become a venue where climate diplomacy and urban policy discussions intersect.

This intersection carries particular relevance for Türkiye’s COP31 Presidency, which has explicitly positioned resilient cities as one of its key thematic priorities heading into the Antalya summit. Türkiye’s own experience rebuilding following the catastrophic February 6, 2023 earthquakes has become a central reference point in the country’s broader COP31 messaging, offering a concrete case study in how post-disaster reconstruction can be integrated with climate resilience and energy efficiency objectives.

WUF13: Housing the World

WUF13 was held under the theme “Housing the World: Safe and Resilient Cities and Communities,” bringing together international leaders and policymakers to discuss housing, climate resilience, disaster risk reduction, and sustainable urbanization. Representing Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan at the forum’s opening session, Minister Kurum underlined the importance of placing safe, resilient, and sustainable cities at the center of the global policy agenda.

Türkiye’s Reconstruction Experience as a Model

During the Forum, Kurum highlighted Türkiye’s post-earthquake reconstruction experience as an example of how large-scale rebuilding efforts can simultaneously support goals around resilient infrastructure, energy efficiency, sustainable urban development, and climate adaptation. He said the reconstruction process following the February 6 earthquakes demonstrated the importance of planning cities holistically — integrating housing, infrastructure, social needs, and environmental resilience within a single implementation framework, rather than addressing these elements separately.

Building on this experience, Kurum said Türkiye aims to use the COP31 process to elevate resilient cities, safe housing, low-carbon urbanization, energy efficiency, and the Zero Waste initiative more prominently within the global climate agenda.

Bilateral Agreement with Azerbaijan

On the sidelines of the Forum, Kurum held a bilateral meeting with Azerbaijan’s Minister of Energy, Parviz Shahbazov, during which the two ministers signed a Memorandum of Understanding on Technical Cooperation in Energy Efficiency in Buildings. The agreement is intended to strengthen institutional cooperation between the two countries’ ministries, support knowledge-sharing on building energy performance, and encourage joint efforts around the use of renewable energy sources.

Kurum welcomed the agreement as a further step in strengthening cooperation between Türkiye and Azerbaijan on sustainable urban development and energy transition priorities ahead of COP31, characterizing the bilateral relationship in warm terms as between “friendly and brotherly” nations.

Additional Bilateral Meetings

Kurum also held separate bilateral meetings with Oman’s Minister of Housing and Urban Planning, Dr. Khalfan Al Shueili, and Saudi Arabia’s Minister of Municipalities and Housing, Majid bin Abdullah Al-Hogail. These discussions focused on cooperation across resilient cities, sustainable urban development, housing, smart cities, and infrastructure.

Through these meetings, Kurum reaffirmed Türkiye’s commitment to strengthening international cooperation ahead of COP31, while emphasizing the country’s intent to share its practical implementation experience on sustainable urbanization and post-disaster reconstruction with international partners.

Why This Matters

Kurum’s engagement at WUF13 reflects a broader pattern within the COP31 Presidency’s preparatory diplomacy, wherein Türkiye has sought to build bilateral and multilateral cooperation across a range of international forums well ahead of the formal Antalya summit. By combining direct advocacy for resilient cities as a global priority with concrete bilateral agreements — such as the energy efficiency memorandum with Azerbaijan — the Presidency appears to be positioning urban resilience and building energy efficiency as tangible, implementation-focused components of its broader COP31 agenda, complementing its previously announced electrification and waste reduction targets.