00:00Azerbaijan's President Ilham Aliyev, at the opening session of the world leader's climate
00:06action summit, addressed attacks faced by his country.
00:10In 19th century, Azerbaijan produced more than a half of global oil production.
00:18And if then some western politicians and media called us a petrostate, probably that would
00:27have been acceptable.
00:29But not today, he says, when Azerbaijan's share of the global oil market is 0.7 percent
00:35and gas is 0.9 percent.
00:38The President criticized the West for not using a fair litmus like unemployment rates
00:44or foreign debt to judge his country.
00:47So these are and many other important criteria which should be a basis for kind of evaluation
00:55of the country's performance, but not the country's natural resources, which are the
01:01gift of the God.
01:03I said it several months ago, and now all those who want, I mean international media,
01:10to attack me.
01:11Faith-based organizations have long been a part of climate discussions and responded
01:16to the President's statement.
01:17Bishop Julio Moray, moderator of the World Council of Churches' Commission on Climate
01:21Justice and Sustainable Development, tells ACT Alliance, a global faith-based coalition,
01:27quote, God calls us to take good care of the divine gifts of land, water and other resources,
01:34end quote.
01:35Nikio Humilisto, advocacy specialist with the Finnish Evangelical Lutheran Mission,
01:41says, quote, medicines are also gift from God when used in the right amounts, but too
01:47much of any medicine can be poison.
01:50Likewise, he says, fossil fuels have wonderful uses, but too much usage can be, and already
01:57is, deadly for too many people around the world, end quote.
02:01Ravisheet Tewari, Rupanaroyan TV6 News.
