Dhaka, 19 February :
Foreign Minister Dr. A K Abdul Momen has urged the global leadership to help forge
international partnerships to ensure financing and technologies for climate vulnerable countries like
Bangladesh. He reiterated this point at a panel discussion on tackling the climate crisis at the Munich
Security Conference that started yesterday.
The Bangladesh Foreign Minister echoed the view that climate change posed a security
challenge and drew attention to the possible consequences to be created by climate-induced
displacements in different parts of the world. Incidentally, climate change was identified as the top
security risk among people polled for the Munich Security Index 2022.
Dr. Momen added that most countries on the frontline of climate change had an insignificant
share in carbon emission, yet suffered due to the global pollution caused by most G-20 countries. He
said in his concluding remarks that the international community must work hard this year to realize
the Paris Climate Conference commitment of USD 100 billion to be realized for climate action
annually.
Foreign Minister Dr. Momen was joined on the panel by John Kerry, Climate Envoy of the US
President, Franziska Brantner, State Secretary at the German Federal Minister for Economic Affairs
and Climate Action, and Sultan Ahmed Al Jaber, Minister of Industry and Advanced Technology of
UAE.
The panel was moderated by Zanny Beddeos, Editor-in-Chief, The Economist and the scene
was set out by Professor Dr. Johan Rockström, Director of the Postdam Institute of Climate Impact
Research.
The speakers identified climate change as an existential threat. They expressed concerns over
the current geopolitical tensions around Ukraine for its possible impact on energy security, leading to
diversion of global attention from the climate crisis. They underscored the importance of accelerating
climate action from now on with respect for science, informed dialogue and pragmatism involving
both the public and private sectors.
At an earlier session of the Conference, Foreign Minister Dr. Momen also asked his US and
German counterparts on the panel if they considered whether escalation of tension around Ukraine
could adversely impact on the climate agenda.
In a later session on the possible way out of the COVID-19 pandemic, Dr. Momen reiterated
the call for considering vaccines to be ‘global public goods’ and ensuring vaccine equity around the
world. In the presence of his counterparts from Canada and Sweden and Bill Gates on the panel, he
stressed the need for transferring the technological know-how to developing countries like
Bangladesh for vaccine production.
The three-day Munich Security Conference kicked off on 18 th February 2022 in the Southern
German city with the participation of the global leaders from both public and private sectors. Along
with Foreign Minister Dr. A K Abdul Momen, Lieutenant General Waker-Uz-Zaman, Principal Staff
Officer, Armed Forces Division is also joining the Conference from Bangladesh this year.
At the end of the day, Dr. Momen addressed a community meeting organized under the banner
of Bayern Awami League. Md. Mosharraf Hossain Bhuiyan, Ambassador of Bangladesh to Germany,
among others, was present.
