Dhaka, Bangladesh (BBN) - Two British cabinet ministers will arrive in Dhaka on Monday for high-level discussions about climate change, as a world conference is ahead for making strategies of combat against climatic disasters.
The trip of Douglas Alexander, Secretary of State for International Development, and Ed Miliband, Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change, takes place less than 100 days before countries from around the world gather in Copenhagen, Denmark, to negotiate a new international climate-change deal.
The United Nations climate change conference is scheduled to be held in Copenhagen from December 7 to 18 this year.
“Bangladesh has a crucial role to play in the international negotiations which are due to conclude in Copenhagen in December,” a British High Commission press statement said in the capital, Dhaka on Sunday.
The ministers will hold talks with the government and climate change experts about the key ingredients for a fair and ambitious deal at Copenhagen.
“They will visit a char island to meet some of the people most directly affected by severe storms and extreme weather, and see how they are adapting their homes and livelihoods to live with climate change,” it added.
The ministers will also formally launch the ‘International Climate Champions’ project, a new British Council initiative in Bangladesh aimed at giving young Bangladeshis a voice on what should be done to meet the challenges of global warming, the High Commission said.
BBN/SS/SI/AD-31August09-12:16 am (BST)