WASHINGTON (AP) — The man who will run United Nations climate talks this November views the negotiations as a key link in international efforts to curb global warming.

The conference in Baku, Azerbaijan, must build on last year’s successful agreement to transition away from fossil fuels, said Mukhtar Babayev, Azerbaijan’s environment minister who will serve as conference president of the talks known as COP29 this fall. And this fall’s meeting must help pave the way for countries to come together in 2025 on beefed-up plans to clamp down on heat-trapping gases, Babayev said.

Baku is the place to find common ground on how rich countries may provide financial help to poorer nations who generally don’t contribute as much to warming but suffer more from climate change, Babayev said in a 30-minute interview with The Associated Press at the Azerbaijan embassy in Washington.