BAKU, Azerbaijan, January 16. On 15 January
2026, the United Nations, represented by United Nations Human
Settlements Programme (UN-Habitat), and the Government of the
Republic of Azerbaijan, represented by the State Committee on Urban
Planning and Architecture (SCUPA), formally signed a pivotal
agreement outlining all organizational arrangements in relation to
the Thirteen session of the World Urban Forum (WUF13), Trend reports.


The agreement was signed in Geneva by Anacláudia Rossbach,
Executive Director of UN-Habitat, and Anar Guliyev, Chairman of the
State Committee on Urban Planning and Architecture of the Republic
of Azerbaijan and WUF13 National Coordinator.


This marks major milestone on the road to WUF13, which Baku will
host on 17–22 May 2026 under the theme “Housing the world: Safe and
resilient cities and communities.”


WUF13 National Coordinator Anar Guliyev praised the productive
cooperation between UN-Habitat and Azerbaijan, emphasizing the
successful implementation of joint projects in the field of urban
development. In particular, he highlighted organisation of three
National Urban Forums in Garabagh and East Zangazur, as well as
events in Baku in 2023 to mark World Habitat Day.


He added: “Today, Azerbaijan is actively contributing to the
shaping of the global urban agenda by participating in the Expert
Working Group on the development of international guidelines for
people-centred smart cities and by co-chairing the
Intergovernmental Expert Working Group on Adequate Housing. We are
confident that the consistent development of our partnership with
UN-Habitat provides a solid foundation and will contribute to
advancing sustainable, inclusive, and people-focused cities.”







UN-Habitat Executive Director Anacláudia Rossbach, expressed her
gratitude to the Government of the Republic of Azerbaijan for
hosting this important gathering: “Azerbaijan’s leadership and
partnership are central to the preparations for the World Urban
Forum, WUF13, and we are grateful for their continued engagement.
Together, we must address the global housing crisis affecting
nearly 3 billion people, including the 1.1 billion people living in
informal settlements”.


Following to the announcement of Baku as the host city of WUF13,
Azerbaijan and UN-Habitat signed the host agreement in December
2023, which established the legal framework to organize the global
conference in the host country and provided the basis for most
organizational and planning issues.


Established in 2001 by the United Nations, the World Urban Forum
is the premier global conference on sustainable urbanization,
designed to examine the impacts of rapid urbanization on cities,
communities, economies, and climate change. Since its inception,
WUF has been hosted in cities across the world, with the first
session held in Nairobi, Kenya, in 2002.