Foreign Minister AK Abdul Momen has called for a greater South Asian partnership to accelerate climate change adaptation in the region.
Without large scale, comprehensive measures, all countries of South Asia, one of the most adversely affected regions in the world, would incur huge per capita GDP losses, he told a virtual consultation meeting of the Global Center on Adaptation (GCA) on Thursday.
The minister said through partnership the South Asian countries could learn, survive and even thrive under any challenging circumstances.
The meeting was aimed at setting strategic policies and finalising the work programme of GCA’s regional office for South Asia, based in Dhaka, read a foreign ministry statement on Friday.
Mr Momen appreciated support of the South Asian countries in favour of the establishment of GCA’s regional office in the capital city of Bangladesh.
He underscored the GCA’s contribution towards driving international ambition on adaptation and strengthening the partnerships that are critical to the commitments made in the Paris Agreement on climate change.
The foreign minister further expressed Bangladesh’s determination to support both GCA and Climate Vulnerable Forum (CVF).
He also felt that the momentum of the creation of the ‘Global Hub on Locally Led Action’ should be kept up.
Bangladesh’s Minister for Environment, Forest and Climate Change Md Shahab Uddin also joined the event and emphasised GCA’s priorities for South Asia.
