Foreign-Affairs
Bangladesh committed to path of sustainable development
Principal Coordinator (SDG Affairs) at the Prime Minister's Office (PMO) Juena Aziz has said they are committed to pursuing a path of sustainable development that respects people and the environment in line with the UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights (UNGPs).
Juena Aziz also said the country is set to graduate from the least developed country category in 2026.
“Special commitment of ensuring sustainable and inclusive development of a prosperous Bangladesh will require establishing a responsible business environment, which will help to achieve the interlinked SDGs,” Aziz also said while speaking as the chief guest at the inaugural session of a two-day workshop.
The two-day workshop for officials of various ministries and departments to raise awareness on responsible business standards and their implications on domestic law and policymaking, organised by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), with support from Sweden, ended on November 14.
UNGPs provide a blueprint to realise the goal of promoting responsible business practices by outlining the respective duties and responsibilities of States and businesses.
Effective implementation of the UNGPs by the government and business enterprises will ensure that they are well-prepared to respond to the challenges that may arise with the introduction of mandatory human rights and environmental due diligence by the European Commission’s proposed Corporate Sustainability Due Diligence Directive.
Anna Maria Oltorp, Head of the Development Cooperation Section for Asia and the Pacific of the Swedish Embassy in Bangkok, reconfirmed Sweden’s commitment to promote responsible the responsible business agenda in the region, highlighting the important role of consumers, particularly youth.
Officials from various ministries, including the Ministry of Commerce, Ministry of Finance, Economic Relation Division (ERD) and Ministry of Labour and Employment, are attending the event. Professor Surya Deva of Macquarie University, Australia, Dr Harpreet Kaur, Business and Human Rights Specialist of UNDP Bangkok and Professor Shawkat Alam, Professor of International and Environmental Law at Macquarie University, Australia, were facilitating different sessions.
The two-day long workshop focused on relevant issues for developing a responsible business environment and the necessity of developing a National Action Plan on Responsible Business Practices in Bangladesh.
Around 6500 become climate refugees in Bangladesh every year: Momen at COP27
Foreign Minister AK Abdul Momen has said that some 6500 people become homeless every year due to climate change in Bangladesh.
“Around 6500 people have been displaced every year due to climate change and they are facing difficulties in working and most of them lose their jobs. As a result, they flocked to the cities,’ he said while talking to reporters after participating in two events at the COP27 conference.
The Bangladesh government has taken steps to build houses for them in a bid to rehabilitate them every year, he added. “Global warming has been noticed due to climate change and we are not responsible for that. Due to global warming, vast tracts of land have been eroded and many amounts of money were spent due to the erosion,” said Momen.
READ: Climate change a threat to millions, vulnerable countries must be taken into account: FM
Earlier, in the day, the minister participated in two events titled 'Human Mobility in the Context of Climate Change: Building a Positive Narrative on Migration' and 'Climate Action and Global Shield Against Climate Risks' at the conference.
He also said that 20% of Bangladesh will be flooded in the future and 2/3 crore people will be homeless and they will spread to the adjacent countries. “It will be a global security risk,” he said. Momen also stresses the need for collective action for this.
Talking about the Global Shield against Climate Risks event, the minister said “A Global Shield has been inaugurated and they (developing countries) will provide some money to us but it will not be enough.”
READ: Every country is struggling to cope, and Bangladesh is no exception: WB Official
Expressing hope over the financial assistance from the other countries, Momen said already Germany is ready to provide Tk 20 billion, US Tk 12 million and France Tk 8 million and the UK will also provide assistance.
Replying to a question about how much money is needed to tackle climate change, the minister said “We have an assessment but its global issue. I think we need $100 billion alone.”
He also placed five-point demands to protect Bangladesh from climate change. The demands include the developed countries which are emitting more carbon need to increase their rate of carbon emitting reduction, to pay the $100 billion now as per previous agreement, demanding compensation for loss and damage, need for green energy and for this funds and technology is needed and the developed countries should provide the money for this technology so that we can produce electricity from 40% renewable energy.
Climate change a threat to millions, vulnerable countries must be taken into account: FM
Foreign Minister Dr AK Abdul Momen has said climate change drives migration and displacement.
“The global community must recall that the Paris Agreement acknowledged that climate change is a threat to millions of people, and vulnerable countries must be taken into account,” he said.
While strong global action is needed to meet the Paris Agreement’s goal of limiting future temperature increases to less than 1.5°C by the end of this century, there is also an urgent need for countries to integrate climate migration into national development plans and national policies.
Recognizing that climate change is a risk multiplier for displacement and migration, and that millions of people throughout the world will be impacted by climate-induced displacement unless immediate action is taken, today, the government of Bangladesh (GoB), the International Organization for Migration (IOM) and the Climate Vulnerable Forum (CVF) jointly called for more action around climate induced migration and displacement.
read more: COP27: Bangladesh among first recipients of Global Shield financial support
Mohibul questions certain foreign envoys’ role on Rohingya issue
Deputy Education Minister Mohibul Hasan Chowdhury on Monday questioned the role of certain foreign envoys over Rohingya issue.
Mohibul, son of veteran Awami League leader late ABM Mohiuddin Chowdhury, also said media reports certain comments by certain foreign missions' heads in Bangladesh violating Vienna Convention.
"Do they say or do anything about Myanmar’s genocide and expulsion of Rohingya?" he tweeted in oblique reference to certain remarks made by the Japanese ambassador in Dhaka on Monday. He, however, did not name anyone.
Read: Myanmar situation doesn't allow full-scale Rohingya repatriation now: Japan
"Will Japan stop investing there (Myanmar)? Double standards?" the Deputy Education Minister mentioned.
"No mutual respect - no mutual trust," he also said.
Speaking at a programme titled "Meet the Ambassador", moderated by journalist Zillur Rahman, Japanese Ambassador Ito Naoki commented on a number of issues including Rohingya repatriation and Bangladesh's next election.
Every country is struggling to cope, and Bangladesh is no exception: WB Official
The World Bank Vice President for South Asia, Martin Raiser, has said the war in Ukraine, the impacts of the COVID pandemic, and the climate crisis have created unprecedented challenges for the global economy.
"Every country is struggling to cope, and Bangladesh is no exception,” said Raiser.
The World Bank Vice President said Bangladesh can sustain rapid growth by strengthening macro, fiscal and financial sector reform and continuing investment in human capital and climate resilience.
"We are ready to lend our full support to these efforts at this challenging time," said Raiser who concluded his second visit to Bangladesh on Monday.
Read: World Bank Vice President Martin Raiser arrives Saturday
He reaffirmed the World Bank's continued support to help the country navigate through the current economic challenges and achieve resilient and inclusive growth.
Raiser met Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina and thanked her for the country’s leading role in climate change adaptation and disaster preparedness.
“The World Bank is proud to be a part of Bangladesh’s tremendous development journey for the past 50 years. Bangladesh provides valuable insights and important lessons in rapid poverty reduction and sustained growth for many other countries around the world,” said Raiser.
Raiser also met Finance Minister AHM Mustafa Kamal and Bangladesh Bank Governor Abdur Rouf Talukder and discussed policy measures to mitigate recent global shocks and build economic resilience.
Read: Bangladesh wants open, transparent relationship with World Bank: PM
They also discussed the World Bank’s support for Bangladesh’s development priorities.
He was accompanied by Abdoulaye Seck, World Bank’s incoming Country Director for Bangladesh and Bhutan, who will assume his position on January 1, 2023.
Bangladesh wants to buy sugar, wheat, soybean oil from Brazil
Bangladesh has shown interest to import sugar, wheat and soybean oil from Brazil.
This was conveyed to newly appointed Ambassador of Brazil to Bangladesh Paulo Fernando Dias Feres when he met Shahriar Alam, state minister for foreign affairs, on Monday at his office in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
They discussed the possibility of investing in the fields of high breed cows, poultry, poultry feed and fisheries in Bangladesh.
The state minister also expressed hope that Brazil would facilitate Bangladesh’s initiative to have preferential trade agreement with the MERCOSUR countries.
Read more: It’s my strong hope to see free, fair election in Bangladesh: Ambassador Naoki
The Brazilian envoy said that during his tenure he would like to work on introducing Bangladesh better to the Brazilians, work intensely to strengthening people-to-people and business-to-business contacts and widen trade relations with Bangladesh.
Ambassador Feres appreciated Bangladesh’s economic strides in the last one decade.
Referring to his recent visit to Brazil, Shahriar thanked the Brazilian government for concluding visa exemption agreement for diplomatic and official passports holders and MoUs between Foreign Service Academy and Bangladesh and Rio Branco Institute of Brazil.
He also mentioned that three business MoUs with the apex Chambers in Brazil were important step stone towards a greater commercial cooperation between the two friendly countries.
Shahriar congratulated him on the 50th anniversary of diplomatic relations with Brazil.
He also congratulated the newly elected President of Brazil Luiz Inácio ‘Lula’ da Silva on his remarkable victory.
Read more: Japan wants "strategic" partnership with Bangladesh through practical cooperation
The state minister said Bangladesh looks forward to working with the new administration to further strengthening its political and trade relations.
The ambassador expressed his country’s keen interest to work with Bangladesh closely on the issues of mutual benefits in the bilateral and multilateral forums.
Smart response control center to open in Dhaka early next year to reduce fire risks, losses
An ICT-based smart Emergency Response Control Center (ERCC) supported by the Korean government through Korea International Cooperation Agency (KOICA ) is expected to begin its operation in Dhaka early next year.
The project titled “Strengthening Ability of Fire Emergency Response (SAFER)” was launched in December 2019 with the participation of a group of Korean experts with a total project cost of US$ 8.35 million.
The project is expected to reduce the fire risks and human and economic loss by strengthening Bangladesh’s fire and disaster emergency response ability, said the South Korean Embassy in Dhaka on Monday.
Read more: It’s my strong hope to see free, fair election in Bangladesh: Ambassador Naoki
While there was some delay in the project’s progress due to the Covid-19 pandemic, the first smart Emergency Response Control Center in Bangladesh is in its final stage.
It’s my strong hope to see free, fair election in Bangladesh: Ambassador Naoki
Japanese Ambassador to Bangladesh Ito Naoki on Monday said they expect that the next national election in Bangladesh will be held in a “free and fair” manner with the participation of all major political parties.
“We expect the next election will be a better one. Free and fair elections need to be done here. That’s my strong hope,” he said while responding to a question at an event titled “Meet the Ambassador” held in a Dhaka hotel.
The Ambassador said he knows that the Election Commission is working for a free and fair election and the government of Bangladesh is also telling that a free and fair election will be conducted. “It’s very important.”
Read more: Myanmar situation doesn't allow full-scale Rohingya repatriation now: Japan
At the same time, the envoy said, this is something that the political parties should decide but the expectation is that the election will be a participatory one and the major political parties will participate in it.
Naoki said he heard about the example of “ballot box stuffing” and some police stuffed the ballot box the previous night which is something he did never hear in any other country.He said “ballot box stuffing” should never be repeated.
Recalling 2018 election, Ambassador Naoki said the Japanese Embassy in Dhaka had issued a statement of concern which was very unusual for his country though it was focused more on violence.
Read more: Japan wants "strategic" partnership with Bangladesh through practical cooperation
Centre for Governance Studies (CGS) hosted the event in collaboration with the Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung (FES) Bangladesh.
Zillur Rahman, Executive Director of the Centre for Governance Studies moderated the programme.
COP27: Bangladesh among first recipients of Global Shield financial support
The Vulnerable Twenty (V20) Group of Finance Ministers of the Climate Vulnerable Forum (CVF) that includes 58 climate vulnerable economies, and the Group of Seven (G7) on Monday (November 14, 2022) officially launched the Global Shield against Climate Risks – an initiative for pre-arranged financial support designed to be quickly deployed in times of climate disasters.
The first recipients of Global Shield packages – called ‘Pathfinder Countries’ – include Bangladesh, Costa Rica, Fiji, Ghana, Pakistan, the Philippines and Senegal, according to a message UNB received from COP27 being held in Egypt’s Sharm El-Sheikh.
The Global Shield will start its implementation immediately after COP27.
Initial contributions include around EUR 170 million from Germany and more than EUR 40 million from other countries.
Also read: Climate Change: IOM DDG calls for redoubling efforts ahead of COP 27
In addition, a broad coalition of countries, multilateral institutions, non-state and private sector partners has underlined their full institutional commitment to the Global Shield.
Ghana Finance Minister Ken Ofori-Atta, V20 Chair, called this is a path-breaking effort and hoped the funding window will benefit equally compared to the pre-existing structures whose performance remain to be proven.
“Our fiscal space is under constant threat and the inflationary pressures of climate change are closing out our options. As part of our Climate Prosperity Plan to reduce the 98 percent financial protection sinkhole, the Global Shield will play a key role in resourcing financial and social protection packages to protect our economy, our enterprises and our communities,” Ken said.
Ken said the Global Shield is long overdue. “It has never been a question of who pays for loss and damage because we are paying for it – our economies pay for it in lost growth prospects, our enterprises pay for it in business disruption, and our communities pay for it in lives and livelihoods lost.”
Also read: D-8 PTA likely to be operational this year to boost intra-trade
Svenja Schulze, Federal Development Minister of Germany, said that under the German presidency, the G7 have committed to scale-up action and support on loss and damage and to work towards a “Global Shield against Climate Risks”, responding to the V20’s call.
“Germany stands by its responsibility to support poor and vulnerable people and countries in dealing with loss and damage. This launch sends a signal: We have heard the urgency and we are acting. We aim at overcoming differences even in challenging circumstances. Germany wants to be a bridge-builder.”
Henry Kokofu, Special Envoy of the Climate Vulnerable Forum (CVF) Ghana Presidency, said: “This is definitely the start we need, but the more effective we are in innovations like the Shield, the more we have to emphasize that scale matters.”
Recent V20 research found that 98% of the nearly 1.5 billion people in V20 countries do not have financial protection – a massive sinkhole for these countries whose workforce is mainly employed by small and medium enterprises.
Read More: COP27: Bangladesh urges developed countries to double climate financing by 2025
According to this research, V20 countries have lost a total of USD 525 billion to climate impacts since 2000.
As risks of losses and damages from climate change escalate further, the cost of capital and debt have risen to unsustainable levels, especially across climate vulnerable economies.
The Global Shield addresses current weaknesses in the financial protection structure in climate vulnerable economies via pre-arranged finance which disburses quickly and reliably before or just after disasters happen.
It expands instruments of financial protection for governments, communities, businesses, and households, thus, lessening the impact of disasters, making vulnerable economies resilient, safeguarding sustainable development, and protecting lives and livelihoods.
Read More: Bangladesh wins COP27 award for community-led initiative
Germany is providing some EUR 170 million as seed contribution, of which EUR 84 million are core funding to the Global Shield and EUR 85.5 million for related climate risk finance instruments.
Further pledges of core funding to the Global Shield include DKK 35 million (about EUR 4.7 million) from Denmark, EUR 10 million from Ireland, USD 7 million from Canada, and EUR 20 million from France. Further contributions by donors are expected to materialize soon.
The V20 and G7 have decided that it will be steered by the Global Shield High-Level Consultative Group, which includes representatives of the V20, G7, G20, think tanks, civil society, multilateral organizations and the private sector.
A financing structure with three complementary funds forms the foundation of the Global Shield against Climate Risks: the Global Shield Solutions Platform, which builds on InsuResilience Solutions Fund, the Global Shield Financing Facility at the World Bank, and the Climate Vulnerable Forum (CVF) & V20 Joint Multi-Donor Fund.
Read More: What can COP27 do for climate vulnerable countries?
Myanmar situation doesn't allow full-scale Rohingya repatriation now: Japan
Japanese Ambassador to Bangladesh Ito Naoki on Monday (November 14, 2022) said it is unlikely to see a full-scale Rohingya repatriation anytime soon due to the situation in Myanmar at this moment.
"It'll be very difficult to see repatriation of Rohingyas in full-scale soon. Unless you see the improvement of situation in Myanmar, it'll be very difficult for us to see their repatriation to Myanmar," he said.
They Ambassador said Japan is communicating with the Myanmar military and Myanmar needs to halt violence, release detainees and restore the democracy there.
He, however, said they may be able to start pilot repatriation at this moment, not full-scale repatriation of Rohingyas to their homeland.
Read more: Russian FM Lavrov’s Visit: Dhaka to focus on energy cooperation, Rohingya issue
Bangladesh is now hosting over 1.1 million Rohingyas in Cox’s Bazar and Bhasan Char and not a single Rohingya was repatriated over the last five years.
"More than five years have passed. The situation is very unfortunate. Repatriation is of course the priority," said the Ambassador, adding that they are ready to work with the government of Bangladesh for repatriation of the Rohingyas.
Unfortunately, he said, the situation in Myanmar will not allow the early repatriation of the Rohingyas.
The envoy said this is a crucial challenge for the international community.
Read more: Bangladesh seeks OIC’s help to continue Rohingya genocide case
Japan has been cooperative to Bangladesh government and appreciates its efforts and generosity, he added.
The Ambassador was responding to a question at an event titled “Meet the Ambassador” held in a Dhaka hotel.
Centre for Governance Studies (CGS) hosted it in collaboration with the Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung (FES) Bangladesh.
Zillur Rahman, Executive Director of CGS moderated the programme.
Read more: EU announces € 3m for Rohingyas in Bhasan Char