The biggest city in Azerbaijan, with its striking mix of Parisian-style boulevards and ultra-modern skyscrapers hugging the Caspian Sea, has appeared half deserted to more than 50,000 visitors who’ve arrived for COP29, the latest iteration of the annual United Nations climate talks. The Mercedes-Benz limos carrying ministers —  and the fleet of electric buses for more humble delegates — have sped easily along nearly vacant highways, making the 7-mile (11-kilometer) journey from city center hotels to the venue in just a few minutes.

For the 4 million Azerbaijanis living in and around Baku, it’s been a bizarre experience that goes well beyond the absence of the normally constant traffic jams. 

Streets that usually bustle with workers and shoppers are almost empty. Vendors selling cheap fruit and vegetables disappeared in early November, days before COP29 got under way. The so-called “slave markets” where legions of the unemployed, mostly men, gather in search of informal manual jobs have also vanished. Even Baku’s ever-present beggars are nowhere to be seen. 

Baku is no stranger to large international events — it hosted the Eurovision Song Contest in 2012 and has held a Formula 1 motor race since 2016. But COP29 is the biggest influx of visitors in the city’s history, and the government has done everything possible to present a positive experience.

Azerbaijan’s leader, President Ilham Aliyev, bought parliamentary elections forward by months to September 1 so they wouldn’t coincide with COP29. His prime minister also signed decrees closing schools and universities.

The normal, five-day autumn holiday for schoolchildren was extended to 17 days. Universities in Baku and surrounding towns were switched to distance teaching. Two-thirds of employees in the public sector received orders to work from home.

Preparations to host world leaders, diplomats, business executives and thousands of climate experts also included a massive facelift to repave main roads, repaint the facades of residential buildings on downtown thoroughfares and refurbish public parks. 

In the suburbs, meanwhile, an makeshift, outdoor market place popular with poorer residents was demolished overnight, just days before the climate talks started. Vendors were told they’ll get their booths back after the two-week event is over.

Playing host to an international summit has been good for some businesses. With almost all of Baku’s 17,500 hotel rooms booked weeks before the event started, prices shot up. Rates at three-star hotels rose to at least $120 per night from around $30 previously, according to Fed.az, a local business news portal. Booking restaurants has also become difficult because of the soaring demand from visitors. 

It’s all served to obscure the inequalities of Azerbaijani society.

Azerbaijan is the third-largest oil producer in the former Soviet Union after Russia and Kazakhstan, although production has been on a sharp decline after peaking near 1 million barrels a day, in 2010. Natural gas production is still rising, though, with the fuel piped to Turkey, Georgia and on to Europe.

Export revenues earned from fossil fuels — described by Aliyev as a “gift from God” in his opening address at COP29 — have helped lift millions out of poverty. But life is still difficult for many, and the median monthly salary is a little over 400 manat ($235). 

The cleanup ahead of the UN summit has brought genuine hardship for street vendors like Farid, who has been out of work since early November. He made a living by selling fruits and vegetables near the Nariman Narimanov metro station, not far from the city center. He was told to remove his stall at the start of November. He hopes to resume work on November 22, when COP29 ends.

“They don’t care about us,” he said, asking that his full name not be published for fear of reprisals.

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