New York, July 16, AZERTACAzerbaijan’s State Committee on Urban Planning and Architecture and the United Nations Human Settlements Programme (UN-Habitat) signed the Contribution Agreement for the Implementation of the Project Titled “Integrated Spatial Planning for Sustainable Urban Development – Towards Smart, Resilient and Inclusive Human Settlements in the East Zangezur Economic Region of the Republic of Azerbaijan.”The document was inked by Anar Guliyev, Azerbaijan’s Chairman of the State Committee on Urban Planning and Architecture, and Anacláudia Rossbach, Executive Director of the UN-Habitat, at the UN Headquarters in New York, the U.S. The agreement lays the foundation for a new phase of cooperation, between Azerbaijan and the UN-Habitat. Thus, UN-Habitat will collaborate on designing settlements in Azerbaijan’s liberated territories. This partnership will help build sustainable, human-centric living environments for residents returning home under the Second State Program on the Great Return.Under the agreement, international experts from UN-Habitat, together with Azerbaijani specialists, will jointly prepare territorial planning documents for the villages of Guyjaq in the Jabrayil district and Mollabayramli in the Kalbajar district.Development of national human capital and building institutional capacity is among the core pillars of this collaboration.Prior to the signing ceremony, Anar Guliyev met with Anacláudia Rossbach to discuss the current state and prospects of cooperation between Azerbaijan and the UN-Habitat. The discussions focused on urban and spatial planning, sustainable urbanization, and building climate-resilient cities.The parties also reviewed the outcomes of the urban development initiatives introduced during the 13th Session of the World Urban Forum (WUF13), held in Baku in May of this year, as well as the COP29, emphasizing the importance of collaboration in these areas.Anacláudia Rossbach hailed the excellent organization of WUF13, noting that the event was highly appreciated by the UN system and international participants for successfully aligning the global agenda with local priorities.The sides also discussed the ongoing preparations for the high-level meeting dedicated to the mid-term review of the New Urban Agenda’s implementation, scheduled to begin at the UN General Assembly on July 16.The UN-Habitat Executive Director highlighted the significant progress made in negotiating the political declaration, expressing her optimism regarding the adoption of the final document. She added that the outcomes and partnerships forged at WUF13 have contributed substantially to this process. Malahat Najafova Special correspondent