Australia interested to help Bangladesh build climate resilience

Australia has shown keen interest to help Bangladesh over Rohingya repatriation and building climate resilience.

Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison came up with the message while holding a bilateral meeting with his Bangladeshi counterpart Sheikh Hasina on the sidelines of COP26 on Tuesday.  

“The bilateral meeting was held at the invitation of the Australian Prime Minister,” said PM’s press secretary Ihsanul Karim said.

He said both the leaders discussed the cooperation between the two countries and they particularly emphasized the importance of climate cooperation and Rohingya repatriation issues.

The Australian prime minister said his country will help Bangladesh, especially in climate resilience building and Rohingya repatriation.Sheikh Hasina said Bangladesh is a climate vulnerable country and Australia is also experiencing extreme climate events, including bushfire, floods, coral reef bleaching. “Both the countries can work closely to build resilience against the impacts of climate change,” she said.

Hasina mentioned that although Bangladesh is not historically responsible for climate change, the impact of climate change is severe on it.

“As such, it’s important for the international community and especially major carbon-emitting countries to respond to the needs of the developing countries that are most vulnerable to climate change. And the developed world must deliver on the $100 billion dollars they promised in climate finance and make it a reality,” she said.

The Bangladesh prime minister underscored the urgency for the transfer of green and clean technologies from developed to developing countries to effectively respond to climate change, resilience building and socio-economic development for the post-Covid recovery. “If shared, many countries could be benefitted from Australia’s technology-led emission reduction approach.”

She thanked Australia for its continued support to Bangladesh over the Rohingya issue.

Expressing concern for not having made any progress in repatriation of Rohingyas to Myanmar since 2017, PM Hasina urged Australia to exert more international pressure on Myanmar so that it takes its nationals back.