DHAKA, 04 September 2021, (TON): British Foreign Secretary Dominc Raab has apologized to his Bangladeshi counterpart Dr AK Abdul Momen for postponing the scheduled bilateral talks in London.

“UK Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab has travelled in response to the global Afghanistan crisis and he informed Bangladesh Foreign Minister AK Abdul Momen to apologise. Hope to reset the meeting soon.”

A senior official of the Bangladesh High Commission in London also confirmed the postponement to this correspondent.

About the rescheduled meeting “officials of the Bangladesh High Commission in London and the British High Commission in Dhaka said that the talks would be held at a mutually convenient time.”

Foreign Minister Dr Momen and COP26 President-Designate Alok Sharma held an official bilateral talk at 9 Downing Street and discussed hosting a CVF-COP26 joint event on the sidelines of the COP26 in Glasgow in early November.

Highlighting Bangladesh's important role in the Climate Vulnerable Forum (CVF), Momen sought to have the CVF-COP26 joint event to strengthen climate cooperation between the President of COP-26 and the most climate-vulnerable countries, including Bangladesh, the current chair of CVF.

Furthermore, he proposed that the UK and Bangladesh expand their bilateral climate relations especially in transferring green technology, promoting green investment, and supporting climate mitigation projects such as building embankments to protect people from sea-level rise and river erosion.

At the meeting, Dr Momen briefed Sharma on the COP26 agenda for Bangladesh focusing particularly on loss and damage, and the proposed CVF-COP26 Leaders’ Summit under Bangladesh Presidency.