Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina will leave Dhaka on Sunday for the United Kingdom and France on a two-week visit. During the visit, she will attend the 26th UN Climate Change Conference of the Parties (COP26), Bangladesh Investment Summit and hand over ‘Unesco-Bangladesh Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman International Prize for the Creative Economy’. The Prime Minister will also hold bilateral meetings with British Prime Minister Boris Johnson and French President Emmanuel Macron apart from other heads of state and government during her visit. The Prime Minister will also hold a meeting with the UK's Prince Charles. A VVIP flight of Biman Bangladesh Airlines, carrying the Prime Minister and her entourage, will depart Hazrat Shajalal International Airport at 9pm. It will land at Glasgow International Airport in Scotland at 2:45pm (local time) where Bangladeshi High Commissioner to the UK Saida Muna Tasneem will welcome her. Hasina will address the key segment of the COP26 on November 1 apart from joining the opening ceremony. The same day, the Prime Minister will attend a joint meeting of the Climate Vulnerable Forum (CVF)- Commonwealth High Level Panel Discussion on Climate Prosperity Partnership. Hasina will also attend a meeting titled “Action and Solidarity-the critical decade” at the invitation of her British counterpart Boris Johnson on November 1. She will have a meeting with Commonwealth secretary general Particia Scotland, Sri Lankan President Gotabaya Rajapaksa and Bill Gates, the founder of Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. She will attend a civic reception virtually arranged by the Bangladeshi Community living in Scotland. Read: South Asian nations should work together: Hasina On November 2, the Prime Minister will attend meetings titled “Women and Climate Change” and “Forging a CVF COP 26 Climate Emergency Pact”. She will hold a bilateral meeting with British Prime Minister Boris Johnson. She will have meetings with UK’s Prince Charles, First Minister of Scotland Nicola Sturgeon, Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison, speaker of Scottish Parliament Alison Johnstone. Later, she will address “A Bangladesh Vision for Global Climate Prosperity”. On November 3, she will leave Scotland for London by a Biman Bangladesh Airlines flight. It will take off at 12pm (local time) from Glasgow International Airport and land at Heathrow International Airport at 1:30pm. Bangladeshi High Commissioner to the UK Saida Muna Tasneem will welcome her at the airport. On the same day, she will go to Westminster where Rushanara Ali MP and Lord Gadhia will welcome her. She will have a courtesy call with British Speaker Sir Lindsay Hoyle. On November 4, the Prime Minister will inaugurate the “Bangladesh Investment Summit 2021: Building Sustainable Growth Partnerships”. She will also unveil the cover of two publications titled ‘Secret Documents’ (Vol i-ix) and ‘Mujib & Introduction’ and inaugurate an art exhibition titled “Bangabandhu and Britain: A Centenary Collection”. On November 7, she will inaugurate the newly-expanded portion of Bangladesh High Commission and Bangabandhu Lounge there. She will also attend a civic reception to be accorded to her by Bangladeshi expatriates living in the UK. On November 9, she will leave London for Paris at 8am (local time) by a VVIP flight of Biman. It will land at De Gaulle International Airport at 11:15am (local time). Read: Identify new market trends to diversify export: Hasina Bangladesh Ambassador Khandaker Mohammad Talha will welcome her at the airport. She will have a meeting with French President Emmanuel Macron at Elysee Palace and witness the signing of three MoUs/TCA/TA, and attend a joint press conference before joining lunch to be hosted by the French President. She will be given guard of honour there. The Prime Minister will also have a bilateral meeting with French Prime Minister Jean Castex. On November 10, Airbus CEO Guillaume Faury and Dassault Aviation president Eric Trappier, Thales president Patrice Caine will meet her at her place. She will have a meeting with a delegation of French business organisation MEDEF. French Minister Florence Parly will also meet her. Later in the afternoon, she will visit the French Senate where she will receive official reception during the ongoing Senate Session. On November 11, Sheikh Hasina will attend the Paris Peace Forum. Later, she will go to attend the “Unesco-Bangladesh Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman International Prize for the Creative Economy” awarding ceremony at the Unesco Headquarters. From there she will go to Elysee Palace to attend the dinner to be hosted by French President Emmanuel Macron in honour of her. On November 12, Sheikh Hasina will go to the Paris Peace Forum and attend a high-level panel discussion on South-South and Triangular Cooperation. Later, she will go to the Unesco Headquarters to attend the inaugural session of the 75th Founding anniversary of Unesco where she will deliver her speech. She will participate in the dinner to be hosted by Unesco Director General Audrey Azoulay in honour of heads of government and state. On November 13, Sheikh Hasina will attend a civic reception to be accorded to her by the expatriate Bangladeshis living there. In the afternoon, she will depart De Gaulle International Airport by a VVIP flight of Biman and land at Hazrat Shahjalal Airport at 10 am (local time) on November 14.

By Dominic Raab  Across the world people are increasingly facing extreme weather – from life-threatening flooding and droughts, to catastrophic wildfires. Climate change is an emergency happening now and it is being compounded by Covid-19 – with the impacts most severe in developing countries. In the UK’s role as President of the UN Climate Change Conference (COP26), which we are hosting in Glasgow in November, we are working with impacted countries to put their voices at the centre of decision-making. That’s why we hosted a Climate and Development Ministerial meeting on 31 March with many of the countries worst affected by climate change – including Bangladesh, bringing them together with donor countries and international organisations to discuss practical, real world solutions. Now is the time for action – as the world prepares for COP26 and strives to fight the pandemic. We now have a real opportunity to reshape our economies, ensuring they can withstand the effects of climate change and support sustainable jobs and growth. The scale of the opportunity is clear. By boosting investment in renewable energy, like wind and solar power, we have seen the number of jobs in the sector quadruple, from around 10 million today to 42 million globally by 2050. Off-grid solar power alone supports over 350,000 jobs across East, West and Central Africa, and South Asia, with the potential to increase to 1.3 million in the next two years. So the question that I have been putting to my counterparts in countries facing the worst of climate change is “what support do you need to recover and respond to climate change?” Their response is clear: more climate finance and easier access to it, help with rising debt levels caused by the economic consequences of Covid-19, and greater support to adapt to the effects of climate change. In each of these areas, the UK is leading the response. We have committed £11.6 billion during the next five years in climate finance and, through our Presidencies of COP26 and the G7, we are urging others to follow our lead. We are working closely with the G7, G20 and the sustainable creditor partners, the Paris Club, to agree an unprecedented response to alleviate the debt burden. The G20 scheme that we helped launch last year has suspended repayments from the most vulnerable countries worth $5.7 billion. While we must focus on stopping further global warming, we must also act now to adapt to the impacts of climate change and address loss and damage. That is why, during the past decade, the UK has supported 66 million people around the world as they endure the damaging effects of the climate change emergency. The Climate and Development Ministerial sent an urgent message to the world that action is needed now. If we are going to stop further catastrophic impacts for us all, we must limit temperature rise to 1.5 degrees – but that will only be possible if all nations come forward with ambitious plans. So, when the world gathers in Glasgow in November, we must ensure that we are all doing what is needed to turn back the dial on climate change, lay the foundations for a green recovery, and secure a brighter future for us all. That is our urgent, shared mission – and the concerns of the most climate-vulnerable nations must be at its heart. Dominic Raab MP is the First Secretary of State and Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs

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