Dutch Minister for Infrastructure and Water Management Cora van Nieuwenhuizen expressed her government’s readiness in this regard to Ambassador of Bangladesh to the Netherlands Sheikh Mohammed Belal during a meeting between them at the Ministry of Infrastructure and Water Management of the Netherlands on Monday.
The Dutch Minister also assured of supporting inland reclamation and river dredging in Bangladesh, said the Embassy on Tuesday.
Referring to the invitation from the Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte to the Hon’ble Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina to join the newly commissioned Global Commission on Adaptation (GCA) as Co-Convener and attend the launching of the GCA in The Hague on October 16, 2018, the Dutch Minister remarked that Bangladesh has always been an important country for any global initiative on climate change.
She hoped that Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina would join the GCA as Co-Convener and attend the launching ceremony of the GCA on October 16, 2018 to demonstrate to the world that Bangladesh is at the forefront of climate change adaptation alongside mitigation of adverse impacts of climate change.
Ambassador Sheikh Mohammed Belal congratulated the Netherlands for taking the initiative of launching Global Commission on Adaption towards lending global political commitment to climate change adaptation focusing on solutions to the climate change issues.
He thanked the Dutch government for inviting Bangladesh Prime Minister to join such global initiative.
At the meeting, both the Dutch Minister and Bangladesh Ambassador expressed satisfaction at the fast growing bilateral relations between the two countries following the official visit of the Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina to the Netherlands in November 2015, and the Dutch twin-ministerial visit to Bangladesh in June 2015.
Referring to the approval of the Bangladesh Delta Plan 2100 on 4 September 2018 by the Government of Bangladesh, the Ambassador expressed sincere thanks to the Dutch government for their technical assistance in formulating the Plan.
The Ambassador also sought Dutch support under the broader framework of Bangladesh Delta Plan 2100 for mitigating long-term flood risks and adverse impacts of climate change through basin-wide water management, land reclamation, river-dredging, capacity building of Bangladesh River Research Institute and knowledge development through education and training.
The Dutch Minister assured to continue their support in implementing Bangladesh Delta Plan 2100 to better manage water resources of Bangladesh and mitigate the adverse impacts of climate change.
The Dutch Minister expressed her hope to visit Bangladesh at an opportune time to see for herself Bangladesh’s prowess in climate change adaptation and explore further Dutch cooperation in implementing Bangladesh Delta Plan 2100.