Foreign Minister AK Abdul Momen has assured of all possible support from Bangladesh to the UNFCCC COP28 Presidency, including as a member of the Climate Vulnerable Forum (CVF) Troika.
He made this assurance while meeting with COP28 President-designate and Minister for Industry and Advanced Technology of UAE, Sultan Ahmed Al Jaber, at his office on Thursday.
The foreign minister thanked the COP28 president-designate for visiting the country and meeting with government, civil society, and youth representatives.
Al Jaber expressed his profound satisfaction at meeting with Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina upon his arrival.
Momen stressed that Bangladesh would like to see a concrete outcome on proposed loss and damage fund. The COP28 president-designate shared his optimism about operationalising the fund during his tenure.
The foreign minister reiterated the importance of addressing the situation of those displaced due to climate impacts. Global leadership should share the burden of rehabilitating the climate migrants, he added.
The UAE minister agreed that the issue should be dealt with in the context of loss and damage.
Momen also reiterated, “We must save this planet earth and in order to save this planet earth for our future generation, the countries that are responsible for carbon emission and global warming must adopt aggressive Nationally Determined Contributions (NDC), so that global temperature remains below 1.5 degree Celsius.”
He further stressed that $100 billion financing for climate fund as promised must be arranged.
He commended UAE’s initiative of greening the country and offered support with seeds, saplings and human resources to further accelerate the efforts. Al Jaber responded positively to this offer.
The two ministers also discussed the possibility of deepening cooperation in energy supply and renewable energy.
The UAE minister proposed undertaking a need assessment in Bangladesh to step up cooperation in these areas.
Both ministers expressed interest in observing the 50th anniversary of establishing bilateral diplomatic relations in a befitting manner next year.
The COP28 president-designate conveyed the greetings of the UAE foreign minister to Momen.
Al Jaber came to Bangladesh on Thursday on an eight-hour trip and among other engagements, and met with Zayed Sustainability Prize Winners at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
He was received at the airport by State Minister for Foreign Affairs Md Shahriar Alam.
