President Ilham Aliyev visited the Baku Olympic Stadium on May 12 to review the extensive preparations for the 13th session of the World Urban Forum (WUF13). The international event, themed "Housing for All: Safe and Sustainable Cities and Settlements," is scheduled to take place from May 17 to 22 in the capital of Azerbaijan.
According to the Operative Information Center-OMM, Anar Guliyev, Chairman of the State Committee for Urban Planning and Architecture, and Adil Mammadov, CEO of the WUF13 Azerbaijan Operating Company, briefed the head of state on the completed infrastructure works. The forum venue spans 53 hectares, including a main event area of 43 hectares and a 10-hectare transport and parking zone. The facility features a main hall with a capacity for 6,000 participants, an "Urban Expo" zone with 121 pavilions representing 41 countries, and a dedicated media center capable of hosting 400 journalists simultaneously. To ensure global accessibility, the forum will provide simultaneous interpretation in the six official UN languages, as well as Azerbaijani and Turkish.
WUF13 marks a historic milestone as the first session in the forum's history to include a Leaders Summit segment. Azerbaijan intends to utilize this global platform to present its large-scale reconstruction efforts in Garabagh and East Zangazur, highlighting "smart city" and "smart village" concepts alongside the transition of these regions into green energy zones. With over 30,000 participants from 178 countries confirmed, the forum, co-organized by the UN-Habitat program and the Government of Azerbaijan, underscores Baku's growing role as a global hub for international dialogue on sustainable urbanization and ecological restoration.
