United Kingdom
British navy group: Hijackers have left vessel off UAE coast
The hijackers who seized a vessel off the coast of the United Arab Emirates in the Gulf of Oman left the targeted ship on Wednesday, the British navy reported, without elaborating.
The British military’s United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations reported that the incident, which it had described as a “potential hijack” the night before, was now “complete.” It did not provide further details.
Read:British navy group: ‘Potential hijack’ of ship off UAE coast
“The vessel is safe,” the group said, without identifying the ship. Shipping authority Lloyd’s List and maritime intelligence firm Dryad Global both named the hijacked vessel as Panama-flagged asphalt tanker Asphalt Princess. The vessel’s owner, listed as Emirati free zone-based Glory International, could not immediately be reached for comment.
Satellite-tracking data for the Asphalt Princess had showed it gradually heading toward Iranian waters off the port of Jask early Wednesday, according to MarineTraffic.com. Later, however, it stopped and changed course toward Oman, just before the British navy group announced the intruders had left.
It was not immediately clear who was responsible for the attempted ship hijack, which unfolded amid heightened tensions between Iran and the West over Tehran’s tattered 2015 nuclear deal with world powers. Over the past few years, commercial shipping in vital Persian Gulf waterways has increasingly been caught in the crosshairs.
Most recently, the U.S., the U.K. and Israel have blamed Iran for a drone attack on an oil tanker linked to an Israeli billionaire off the coast of Oman that killed two people. The raid marked the first known fatal assault in the shadow war targeting vessels in Mideast waters. Iran has denied involvement.
Apparently responding to Tuesday’s ship seizure, Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Saeed Khatibzadeh described the recent maritime attacks in the Persian Gulf as “completely suspicious.” He denied that Iran played any role.
Read:India to maintain warships in Gulf zone to aid merchant ship
The U.S. military’s Mideast-based 5th Fleet and the British Defense Ministry did not return calls for comment about the reported hijack. The Emirati government did not immediately acknowledge the incident.
Late on Tuesday, as the reported hijack was underway, six oil tankers off the coast of Fujairah announced around the same time via their Automatic Identification System trackers that they were “not under command,” according to MarineTraffic.com. That typically means a vessel has lost power and can no longer steer.
The Gulf of Oman is near the Strait of Hormuz, the narrow mouth of the Persian Gulf through which a fifth of all oil passes. Fujairah, on the UAE’s eastern coast, is a main port in the region for ships to take on new oil cargo, pick up supplies or trade out crew.
For the past two years, after then-President Donald Trump withdrew the U.S. from Iran’s nuclear deal and imposed crushing sanctions on the country, the waters off Fujairah have seen a series of explosions and hijackings. The U.S. Navy blamed Iran for a series of limpet mine attacks on vessels that damaged tankers.
In the summer of 2019, Iran’s Revolutionary Guard troops detained a British-flagged tanker, the Stena Impero, near the Strait of Hormuz — a raid that came after Britain seized an Iranian tanker off the coast of Gibraltar on suspicion the ship had been headed to Syria in violation of European Union sanctions.
Read:Data recovered as ship with chemicals sinking off Sri Lanka
Last year, an oil tanker sought by the U.S. for allegedly circumventing sanctions on Iran was hijacked off the Emirati coast and later ended up in Iran, though Tehran never acknowledged the incident.
And in January, armed Iranian Revolutionary Guard troops stormed a South Korean tanker and forced the ship to change course and travel to Iran. While Iran claimed it detained the ship over pollution concerns, it appeared to link the seizure to negotiations over billions of dollars in Iranian assets frozen in South Korean banks.
Environment Minister to highlight Bangladesh priorities at 'COP26 July Ministerial'
Environment, Forest and Climate Change Minister Md. Shahab Uddin MP is leading the Bangladesh delegation at the two-day "COP26 July Ministerial" that began on Sunday in the United Kingdom (UK).
Shahab Uddin is expected to highlight Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina’s priorities at the COP26 as a state party to the UNFCCC and also as the President of the Climate Vulnerable Forum (CVF).
Read:COP26: Young people urged to raise voice to save planet
The UK-hosted July Ministerial is aimed to give an opportunity for the Environment Ministers of the state parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) to come together in person to discuss their expectations for a successful COP26 scheduled in Glasgow this year from 1-12 November.
Shahab Uddin reached London on Saturday afternoon on an official visit to the United Kingdom (UK).
Read: Dhaka, London hopeful of signing climate accord before COP26
Bangladesh High Commissioner to the UK Saida Muna Tasneem received the Minister at the London Heathrow International airport.
Secretary, Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change and Director General, Department of Environment are accompanying the Minister during his visit to attend the COP26 July Ministerial organized by the United Kingdom.
UK urged to implement Parliament recommendations on Myanmar, take action at UNSC
Fortify Rights on Thursday said the United Kingdom government should implement recommendations made by the Foreign Affairs Committee and urgently draft a UN Security Council (UNSC) resolution to impose a global arms embargo and sanctions against the Myanmar military to deprive it of weapons and financial resources.
On July 16, the British parliament’s Foreign Affairs Committee published its report on the U.K. government’s response to the Myanmar crisis.
The 30-page report stems from the Myanmar military’s attempted coup d’état on February 1 and subsequent deadly crackdown on peaceful protesters and others.
It makes 30 recommendations to strengthen UK leadership on addressing the human rights catastrophe unfolding in Myanmar.
Since February, the Myanmar army and police have killed more than 900 people and imprisoned more than 5,000.
Since the military seized power, its forces have arbitrarily arrested, beat, and killed medical professionals and destroyed medical supplies and facilities, leaving Myanmar’s healthcare system in disarray as COVID-19 spreads throughout the country.
Also read: In Myanmar, the military and police declare war on medics
“As the UN Security Council’s ‘penholder’ on Myanmar, the U.K. is in a unique position to provide decisive leadership on this crisis,” said Ismail Wolff, Regional Director of Fortify Rights.
“With increasing violence as well as mounting COVID-19 cases and deaths, the situation in Myanmar requires urgent international action.”
The committee’s report is the culmination of an urgent inquiry launched on April 29, 2021 into what Committee Chair Tom Tugendhat described as the “flagrant human rights abuses and killings” occurring in Myanmar since the February 1 coup d’état.
The committee received written submissions, including from Fortify Rights, on the Myanmar crisis and heard oral evidence from Myanmar National Unity Government (NUG) Minister of International Cooperation Dr. Sasa, U.N. Special Rapporteur on the human rights situation in Myanmar Thomas Andrews, human rights defender Thinzar Shunlei Yi, and others.
The committee’s report identifies freezing global arms sales to the Myanmar military as a “first priority,” recommending that the U.K. draft a U.N. Security Council resolution that would impose a global arms embargo.
As the Security Council’s “penholder” on the Myanmar crisis, the U.K. has a responsibility to draft and propose resolutions.
As a result of Security Council inertia, on June 18, the U.N. General Assembly took the rare step of issuing its own non-binding resolution calling for an arms embargo against Myanmar.
The resolution enjoyed widespread international support, with 119 member states voting in favor of it and only one, Belarus, voting against it.
Also read: Human rights defenders in Myanmar under siege, say UN experts
The Foreign Affairs Committee report also calls on the U.K. government to use its new status as an Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) Dialogue Partner as well as its recently announced strategic “tilt” toward the Indo-Pacific arena to pressure regional powers to act.
Fortify Rights noted in its submission to the committee that Singapore continues to extend banking services to the Myanmar military junta.
As a global leader in banking and financial services, the U.K. could compel banking institutions dealing in pound sterling, including those in Singapore, to comply with U.K. sanctions against the Myanmar junta thereby cutting off a major source of revenue.
The committee also recommended that the U.K. government “use its diplomatic influence to encourage border countries such as Thailand . . . to accept more refugees from Myanmar, and to meet their commitments of non-refoulement.”
“The U.K. urgently needs to level up its response to the Myanmar crisis,” said Ismail Wolff.
“People in Myanmar and across the world are calling out for international action to end the bloodshed. The U.K. government is in a unique position to effect change, and the Foreign Affairs Committee has set out a comprehensive road map of actions that the government would do well to follow.”
Dhaka conveys protests to UK over human rights report
Bangladesh has protested to the United Kingdom that it was "grossly misleading" to use the words "house arrest" in reference to the current situation of BNP leader Begum Khaleda Zia.
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs on Sunday summoned British Acting High Commissioner in Dhaka Javed Patel to convey the government's views and disappointment with certain issues mentioned in the Bangladesh chapter of the Human Rights and Democracy Report 2020.
The report was released by the UK Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO) last Thursday.
It was clarified to the AHC that on the application of Begum Zia's brother, the government had - as per the provisions of the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1898 - suspended her prison sentence and 'released' her in March 2020 on condition that she would receive medical treatment at home and would not travel abroad.
The government pointed out that the suspension of her sentence and release from prison, applicable for an initial six -month period, were subsequently extended twice in September 2020 and March 2021.
Also read: Media freedom in Bangladesh under “pressure”, political freedom “restricted”: UK
The AHC was told that it would be advisable to consult the concerned authorities of the government in case of any confusion over such legal issues.
It was further suggested that any official document of the UK government also refrain from using any form of insinuating and misleading statements about the Government of Bangladesh or the ruling party, Bangladesh Awami League.
UK announces sanctions on companies linked to Myanmar’s military regime
The United Kingdom on Monday announced further sanctions on companies linked to Myanmar’s military regime which will restrict the military junta’s ability to profit from timber and pearl, key sources of revenue for the regime.
British Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab announced the new sanctions against the Myanmar Timber Enterprise, Myanmar Pearl Enterprise and the State Administration Council.
UK will maintain suspension on trade promotion in Myanmar and strengthen advice to British businesses following review of Myanmar trade, according to Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office.
READ: Resolution on Myanmar fails to recommend actions on Rohingya repatriation: Dhaka
In the UK’s sixth tranche of Myanmar sanctions, measures announced today will target the Myanmar regime’s economic interest with new designations against the State Administration Council (SAC), the junta’s ruling body, who continue to undermine democracy and brutally suppress Myanmar’s civilians.
These sanctions send a clear message to the junta the UK will not allow financial support that props up the military regime following the coup earlier this year, said the UK government.
Additional measures will now be imposed on the Myanmar Timber Enterprise and Myanmar Pearl Enterprise, 2 state owned entities in Myanmar’s extractive sector.
These asset freezes will be enforced with immediate effect, and target the junta’s ability to profit from pearl and timber, 2 high-value natural commodities that generate millions in revenue for the military regime.
Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab said alongside our allies, they are placing sanctions on companies linked to Myanmar’s military junta, targeting the finances of this illegitimate regime.
"The military has continued its subversion of democracy and brutal killing of civilians. We will continue to hold the Junta to account and sanction those responsible, until democracy is restored."
The British Foreign Secretary also announced the conclusion of the UK’s Myanmar Trade Review.
In a Written Ministerial Statement in Parliament, he confirmed that the UK will maintain its suspension on trade promotion in Myanmar first imposed following the coup earlier this year.
The UK will also strengthen their Overseas Business Risk guidance to reiterate the message that UK businesses must undertake enhanced supply chain due diligence and should not enter into trading relationships that benefit the Myanmar military.
The Myanmar Trade Review emphasised that UK businesses continue to have an important role to play in Myanmar in job creation and poverty alleviation, but should operate responsibly in order to avoid inadvertently supporting the military regime.
READ: Resident: Junta burns Myanmar village in escalating violence
Today’s new sanctions announcement, alongside the similar announcement from the European Union on Myanmar Timber Enterprise, follows the recent G7 communiqué which called on partners and business to exercise due diligence in their trade and investment in Myanmar.
Under the UK’s presidency the G7 continues to call for an end to the coup and the immediate adoption of the ASEAN 5-point consensus.
Biden urges G-7 leaders to call out and compete with China
Leaders of the world’s largest economies unveiled an infrastructure plan Saturday for the developing world to compete with China’s global initiatives, but they were searching for a consensus on how to forcefully to call out Beijing over human rights abuses.
Citing China for its forced labor practices is part of President Joe Biden’s campaign to persuade fellow democratic leaders to present a more unified front to compete economically with Beijing. But while they agreed to work toward competing against China, there was less unity on how adversarial a public position the group should take.
Canada, the United Kingdom and France largely endorsed Biden’s position, while Germany, Italy and the European Union showed more hesitancy during Saturday’s first session of the Group of Seven summit, according to two senior Biden administration officials. The officials who briefed reporters were not authorized to publicly discuss the private meeting and spoke on condition of anonymity.
The communique that summarizes the meeting’s commitments was being written and the contents would not be clear until it was released when the summit ended Sunday. White House officials said late Saturday that they believed that China, in some form, could be called out for “nonmarket policies and human rights abuses.”
Read: Biden sells G-7 on global tax, but U.S. Congress is a hurdle
In his first summit as president, Biden made a point of carving out one-on-one-time with various leaders, bouncing from French president Emmanuel Macron to German chancellor Angela Merkel to Italian prime minister Mario Draghi as well as Japan’s Yoshihide Suga and Australia’s Scott Morrison, a day after meeting with British Prime Minister Boris Johnson as if to personally try to ward off memories of the chaos that his predecessor would often bring to these gatherings.
Macron told Biden that collaboration was needed on a range of issues and told the American president that “it’s great to have a U.S. president part of the club and very willing to cooperate.” Relations between the allies had become strained during the four years of Donald Trump’s presidency and his “America first” foreign policy.
Merkel, for her part, downplayed differences on China and the Nord Stream 2 pipeline which would transport natural gas from Russia to Germany, bypassing Ukraine.
“The atmosphere is very cooperative, it is characterized by mutual interest,” Merkel said. “There are very good, constructive and very vivid discussions in the sense that one wants to work together.”
White House officials have said Biden wants the leaders of the G-7 nations — the U.S., Britain, Canada, France, Germany, Japan and Italy — to speak in a single voice against forced labor practices targeting China’s Uyghur Muslims and other ethnic minorities. Biden hopes the denunciation will be part of a joint statement to be released Sunday when the summit ends, but some European allies are reluctant to split so forcefully with Beijing.
China had become one of the more compelling sublots of the wealthy nations’ summit, their first since 2019. Last year’s gathering was canceled because of COVID-19, and recovery from the pandemic is dominating this year’s discussions, with leaders expected to commit to sharing at least 1 billion vaccine shots with struggling countries.
Read: G-7 nations expected to pledge 1B vaccine doses for world
The allies also took the first steps in presenting an infrastructure proposal called “Build Back Better for the World,” a name echoing Biden’s campaign slogan. The plan calls for spending hundreds of billions of dollars in collaboration with the private sector while adhering to climate standards and labor practices.
It’s designed to compete with China’s trillion-dollar “Belt and Road Initiative,” which has launched a network of projects and maritime lanes that snake around large portions of the world, primarily Asia and Africa. Critics say China’s projects often create massive debt and expose nations to undue influence by Beijing.
Britain also wants the world’s democracies to become less reliant on the Asian economic giant. The U.K. government said Saturday’s discussions would tackle “how we can shape the global system to deliver for our people in support of our values,” including by diversifying supply chains that currently heavily depend on China.
Not every European power has viewed China in as harsh a light as Biden, who has painted the rivalry with China as the defining competition for the 21st century. But there are some signs that Europe is willing to impose greater scrutiny.
Before Biden took office in January, the European Commission announced it had come to terms with Beijing on a deal meant to provide Europe and China with greater access to each other’s markets. The Biden administration had hoped to have consultations on the pact.
But the deal has been put on hold, and the European Union in March announced sanctions targeting four Chinese officials involved with human rights abuses in Xinjiang. Beijing responded with penalties on several members of the European Parliament and other Europeans critical of the Chinese Communist Party.
Read: G-7 to put off agreement on when to end coal-fired power generation
Biden administration officials see an opportunity to take concrete action to speak out against China’s reliance on forced labor as an “affront to human dignity.”
While calling out China in the G-7 communique would not create any immediate penalties for Beijing, one senior administration official said the action would send a message that the leaders were serious about defending human rights and working together to eradicate the use of forced labor.
An estimated 1 million people or more — most of them Uyghurs — have been confined in reeducation camps in China’s western Xinjiang region in recent years, according to researchers. Chinese authorities have been accused of imposing forced labor, systematic forced birth control, torture and separating children from incarcerated parents.
Beijing rejects allegations that it is committing crimes.
Johnson, the summit host, also welcomed the leaders from “guest nations” South Korea, Australia and South Africa, as well as the head of the United Nations, to the summit to “intensify cooperation between the world’s democratic and technologically advanced nations.”
The leaders planned to attend a barbecue Saturday night, complete with toasted marshmallows, hot buttered rum and a performance by a sea shanty troupe.
Read: G-7 finance ministers agree on 15% int'l minimum corporate tax rate
India was also invited but its delegation is not attending in person because of the severe coronavirus outbreak in the country.
Biden ends the trip Wednesday by meeting in Geneva with Russia’s Vladimir Putin. The White House announced Saturday that they will not hold a joint news conference afterward, which removes the opportunity for comparisons to the availability that followed Trump and Putin’s 2018 Helsinki summit, in which Trump sided with Moscow over his own intelligence agencies. Only Biden will address the news media after the meeting.
Putin, in an interview with NBC News, said the U.S.-Russia relationship had “deteriorated to its lowest point in recent years.”
He added that while Trump was a “talented” and “colorful” person, Biden was a “career man” in politics, which has “some advantages, some disadvantages, but there will not be any impulse-based movements” by the U.S. president.
Dhaka, London hopeful of signing climate accord before COP26
Bangladesh and the United Kingdom are planning to sign a "climate accord" before COP26 and expressed optimism for a successful outcome of the COP26 with a possible CVF-COP26 event at Glasgow.
The two countries agreed to work together to put nature at the heart of their climate action, building on the 2020 Leaders’ Pledge for Nature and realising shared commitments towards conservation of biodiversity and ecosystems, as well as those under the Global Ocean Alliance and the Commonwealth Blue Charter.
As founding members of the Adaptation Action Coalition, Bangladesh and the UK renewed their commitment to work together with other Coalition members to accelerate adaptation on the ground with a particular emphasis on promoting locally led climate action, according to a joint statement issued on Thursday.
The two countries will do more to avert, minimise, and address Loss and Damage, said the joint statement on climate action between the two countries.
Bangladesh and the UK will work together to get the network operating, following the UK-led Climate and Development Ministerial and drawing on the expertise in the UK, Bangladesh and internationally.
Foreign Minister Dr AK Abdul Momen and COP26 President-Designate Alok Sharma met on Wednesday during the visit of COP26 President-designate to Bangladesh on June 2-4.
Also read: COP26: Alok Sharma pledges support for Bangladesh towards clean energy transition
They jointly reaffirmed their commitment to enhancing cooperation between Bangladesh and the United Kingdom in tackling climate change’s causes and adverse effects. They agreed to demonstrate sustained leadership to tackle the climate emergency bilaterally and globally.
The two countries agreed to exchange expertise, share technology, facilitate partnerships, and identify practical solutions to common climate challenges.
COP26 President-Designate Sharma due Wednesday to discuss climate issues
COP26 President-Designate Alok Sharma arrives here on Wednesday morning to discuss shared priorities with Bangladesh which remains a "crucial" partner on the road to COP26.
He will meet Foreign Minister Dr AK Abdul Momen on Wednesday and attend a joint briefing at 3pm, a senior official told UNB on Tuesday.
Read:BUILD Chairperson meets new FBCCI president
Alok Sharma is also scheduled to meet Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina to discuss climate issues during his two-day visit.
His plan is to strengthen support for UK COP26 climate priorities ahead of hosting the crucial UN climate change summit in Glasgow this November.
He will discuss the needs of countries most vulnerable to climate change, to ensure they are equipped to deal with its current and damaging effects ahead of COP26.
Read:Bloomberg writer pours his heart out while praising Bangladesh’s progress
Preventing deforestation whilst ensuring development and trade is sustainable will also be high on the agenda, as COP26 looks to highlight the protection of nature and biodiversity as a key tool in limiting global temperature rise to 1.5C.
With less than six months to go before COP26, he will meet leaders from government, business and civil society to press his personal priority for a move to global clean power, critical to limiting global temperature rise to 1.5C.
UK PM Boris Johnson marries fiancee in private ceremony
British Prime Minister Boris Johnson has married his fiancée, Carrie Symonds, in a small private ceremony that came at the end of a tumultuous week during which a former top aide said he was unfit for office.
The couple wed Saturday at the Roman Catholic Westminster Cathedral in front of a small group of friends and family, Johnson’s office said Sunday, confirming newspaper reports that were published overnight. Photos taken after the ceremony in the garden of the prime minister’s residence showed Symonds in a long white dress and floral headband. Johnson wore a dark suit.
READ: Boris Johnson, fiancée Carrie Symonds wed in London
“The Prime Minister and Ms. Symonds were married yesterday afternoon in a small ceremony at Westminster Cathedral,″ Downing Street said. “The couple will celebrate their wedding with family and friends next summer.”
The couple have reportedly sent save-the-date cards to family and friends for a celebration on July 30, 2022. Under current coronavirus restrictions in England, no more than 30 people can attend a wedding.
Johnson, 56, and Symonds, a 33-year-old Conservative Party insider and environmental advocate, announced their engagement in February 2020. Their son, Wilfred, was born in April last year.
The marriage is Johnson’s third. He has at least five other children from previous relationships.
Johnson’s previous marriages would not have stopped him from having a Catholic wedding because they didn’t take place in the Catholic church, Matt Chinery, an ecclesiastical and canon lawyer, told Times Radio.
“In the eyes of the Catholic church, Boris Johnson woke up last week as somebody who wasn’t married and had never been married and so was free to marry in the cathedral this weekend,” he said.
Johnson was baptized as a Catholic but he was confirmed as a member of the Church of England as a teenager.
The last British prime minister to marry in office was Lord Liverpool in 1822.
The wedding followed a difficult political week for Johnson.
His former top aide, Dominic Cummings, on Wednesday told lawmakers that Johnson had bungled the government’s response to the coronavirus pandemic and said he was “unfit for the job.”
Britain has Europe’s highest coronavirus death toll, at over 128,000 people, but it has also produced one of the world’s most successful vaccination programs, inoculating 74% of its adults. Daily deaths have plummeted to single digits of late, compared to over 1,800 one day in January.
READ: Boris Johnson self-quarantining after contracting Covid-19 infected MP
On Friday, a government ethics adviser released his long-awaited findings on the “cash for curtains” scandal in which Johnson was criticized for failing to disclose that a wealthy Conservative Party donor had paid for the redecoration of the prime minister’s official residence in London. Although Johnson later settled the bill, the inquiry found that Johnson had acted “unwisely” in carrying out the work without knowing where the money had come from. He was cleared of misconduct.
The opposition Labour Party was not giving Johnson any space for a honeymoon, with one Labour lawmaker, Jon Trickett, suggesting that the weekend wedding was “a good way to bury this week’s bad news.”
AstraZeneca: Govt's desperate efforts yet to yield any good news
Despite all-out efforts to get AstraZeneca vaccine doses to meet the immediate need of those yet to get their second dose, there is no concrete outcome yet.
Apart from India, Bangladesh reached out to the United States and United Kingdom to get the AstraZeneca vaccine doses as 1.5 million people who have received their first AstraZeneca jabs are unlikely to get their second dose if the government does not receive vaccine doses from the countries it approached including those from COVAX facility.
Asked whether Bangladesh is getting AstraZeneca vaccine doses soon from the US, a spokesperson at the US Embassy in Dhaka said the US President reaffirmed that commitment by announcing that the US will provide 80 million doses of vaccine to support global needs by the end of June.
Read: Bangladesh urgently seeks 1.6mn AstraZeneca doses from UK
But there is nothing specific yet on how many doses Bangladesh will get or when.
“We are working to provide the 80 million doses in the near future and are evaluating the supply and will then make a determination on distribution,” he told UNB.
But Bangladesh informally came to know that Bangladesh is not in the priority lists as the US does not see any crisis in Bangladesh considering the low number of deaths and cases.
The US Embassy spokesperson said the United States is committed to leading the global response to the COVID-19 pandemic.
“Our overarching aim is to end the pandemic as quickly as possible, and that requires getting as many people vaccinated as fast as possible,” he said.
Read Indonesia suspends AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine batch after death
In addition to distributing the 80 million doses of vaccine, the United States is the largest single donor to the global vaccine initiative, COVAX, with $2 billion already donated and plans to provide another $2 billion through 2022.
“We will continue to work with and coordinate closely with COVAX and partner countries around the world to support global vaccination efforts,” said the spokesperson.
Earlier, Foreign Minister Dr AK Abdul Momen wrote to US Secretary of State Antony J. Blinken seeking vaccine doses from them immediately.
After its request to the United States, Bangladesh urged the United Kingdom (UK) to help by providing vaccines to meet emergency needs as the second dose vaccination is disrupted in Bangladesh.
"I’m not asking for too much, I’m only asking for 1.6m AstraZeneca doses that they have, they should immediately disperse those to Bangladesh so these people can have their second dose," said the Foreign Minister.
Read US will share AstraZeneca vaccines with world
When approached, a UK government spokesperson told UNB that the UK government does not have a role in the production or distribution of AstraZeneca‘s vaccines or their supply contracts.
The spokesperson said the UK has played a leading role in championing global access to coronavirus vaccines.
The UK is one of the largest donors to COVAX, providing £548 million to deliver more than a billion vaccines to lower-middle income countries this year.
So far, COVAX has already helped deliver vaccines to more than 120 countries and territories, over 70 of which are lower-income countries.
“Of the almost 1.5 billion vaccines which have been delivered across the world, more than 400 million doses of the Oxford/AstraZeneca vaccine have been given around the world, at cost,” said the spokesperson adding that the UK Prime Minister has confirmed the UK will share the majority of any future surplus coronavirus vaccines from their supply with the COVAX pool, when these are available.
Read: Bangladesh seeks at least 2 mln doses of AstraZeneca vaccine from Canada
Foreign Minister Momen said the problem that Bangladesh is facing for ensuring the second dose could have been resolved easily if vaccine doses were available from the COVAX facility timely.
He also wrote Indian External Affairs Minister Dr S. Jaishankar apart from telephone conversation between them on vaccine issues.
“I told him (Jaishankar) to send 1.5 million Oxford-AstraZeneca doses to Bangladesh as a gift if there is any export bar,” Dr Momen said.
A government source, however, said they are still hopeful of getting some vaccine doses from India in June to meet immediate needs.
Bangladesh entered into a deal with the Serum Institute of India (SII) to purchase 30 million doses of a potential vaccine being developed by AstraZeneca for Covid-19.
Read Bangladesh reaches out to int'l media as it seeks vaccines desperately
Bangladesh was supposed to get five million doses of vaccine per month as the SII and Bangladesh’s Beximco Pharma signed the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) for priority delivery of the vaccine doses.
Bangladesh sought at least 3 million doses of vaccine under the agreement to address the immediate demand in Bangladesh.
Bangladesh has so far received only 7 million of Oxford-AstraZeneca covid-19 vaccine doses produced by Serum Institute of India (SII) through its contract. Bangladesh also received 3.3 million doses of vaccine as a bilateral partnership gift.
The British Government, Oxford University and AstraZeneca, have invested in the research and came together to develop and deliver a vaccine at cost for everyone.
Read More support easing vaccine patent rules, but hurdles remain
They expect to have surplus doses, but exactly when these will be available depends on a number of factors including the continued reliability of supply chains and whether new doses are needed to deal with variant strains or as a booster.
The government officials said both the first dose and second dose vaccination will begin simultaneously in June as procuring vaccine doses from China is at the final stage.
The Foreign Minister said Bangladesh is at the final stage to procure vaccine doses from China. “It’s at the final stage. All types of discussions are very positive.”
The government is in discussion to procure 1.5 crore doses of vaccine from China for June, July and August with an initial consignment of 50 lakh doses.
Read: Efforts intensified to get Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccines from US: FM
The Cabinet Committee on Public Purchase on Thursday approved Health and Family Welfare Ministry’s proposal to procure 1.5 crore doses of Chinese Sinofarm’s Covid-19 vaccine.
Dr Momen said China assured Bangladesh of providing vaccines ensuring its steady flow of supply.
An official at the Directorate General of Health Services said the government at the highest level is trying to get vaccine doses for smooth continuation of vaccination drives across the country.
“I hope we will get the vaccines. You’ll get the second dose,” he said, requesting all to wait with patience.
The first dose of the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccination drive remains stopped due to supply shortage while the stock for the second dose to get finished within days leaving around 15 lakh people waiting for their second dose.
Read EU takes on AstraZeneca in court over vaccine deliveries