Azerbaijan has named minister and former oil executive Mukhtar Babayev as president of the COP29 climate conference to be held in November in Baku, an official told AFP on Friday.

Babayev, currently minister for ecology and natural resources and formerly an executive at state oil company SOCAR, "has been named president-designate for the 29th session of the conference of the parties," senior ministry official Rashad Allahverdiyev told AFP in an email.