Baku has successfully hosted the 13th session of the World Urban Forum (WUF13), described as the largest edition of the global event in its history, drawing around 60,000 participants from across the world.
In a statement shared on his official X account, the President of Azerbaijan, Ilham Aliyev, described the forum as a landmark international gathering and underlined its significance for both global urban policy and Azerbaijan’s international standing, Caliber.Az reports.
“Azerbaijan had the privilege to host another landmark global event — WUF13, the second biggest international gathering ever held in the country after COP29,” Aliyev said, referring to the UN climate summit hosted in Baku in 2024.
He added that the scale and outcomes of the forum marked a historic milestone: “With a record number of around 60,000 participants, WUF13 went down in history as the largest World Urban Forum ever held.”
According to the president, the forum also introduced a new political dimension to global urban discussions. “The first-ever Leaders’ Segment, convened at Azerbaijan’s initiative, brought greater political momentum to the global urban agenda,” he noted.
Aliyev highlighted that the discussions at WUF13 produced two key outcome documents, the Chair’s Summary and the Baku Call to Action, which he said would help shape future global urban policies.
The president also drew attention to Azerbaijan’s post-conflict reconstruction efforts in territories affected by decades of conflict. “As a country that suffered from urbicide, culturcide, and ecocide, Azerbaijan is now rebuilding 9 cities and hundreds of villages from the ground up in Garabagh and East Zangezur,” he said.
He stressed that these efforts had received international recognition during the forum. “We therefore take pride in the strong recognition by the international community of Azerbaijan’s post-conflict reconstruction efforts, highlighted as a valuable example for other post-conflict contexts around the world,” Aliyev stated.
The forum, organised in cooperation with the UN-Habitat, addressed a wide range of global urban challenges, from sustainable development and clean air to cultural heritage preservation and the needs of Small Island Developing States.
Aliyev concluded that WUF13 contributes to broader international cooperation at a time of global uncertainty: “At a time of growing global uncertainty, WUF13 represents another meaningful contribution by Azerbaijan to multilateralism and collective action for a better future.”
Held in Baku, Azerbaijan, on May 17-22, 2026, WUF13 marked one of the largest editions in the forum’s history, gathering tens of thousands of participants. The event served as a platform for exchanging policy experience and shaping the global urban agenda, with a focus on inclusive, sustainable, and resilient cities in an era of rapid urbanisation and global uncertainty.
