Bangladesh to hold regional climate conference on May 19-20

DHAKA, March 21 (Xinhua) -- A two-day Regional Climate Conference will be held in Bangladesh's capital Dhaka on May 19-20 bringing more than 15 Asian, African and Small Island States to raise their common issues with regard to the climate change.

The regional climate conference in Dhaka will be one of the four similar conferences of Least Developed Countries (LDCs) across the globe, mostly vulnerable to climate change, the Bangladeshi State Minister for Environment and Forests Hasan Mahmud was quoted as saying by national news agency BSS Sunday.

The European Union has proposed such conference to expedite the global negotiation process ahead of the sixteenth Conference of Parties (COP-16) in Mexico.

Bangladesh, the Maldives, Nepal, Bhutan, Myanmar, Cambodia, Lesotho, Guiana, Jamaica, Mali, Madagascar, Mozambique, Rwanda, Senegal and Tanzania are likely to join the conference.

Asian countries are confirmed while African and Small Island States are being communicated, Hasan said adding the EU would provide technical and financial support to arrange the conference.