Staff correspondent :

Bangladesh has called for mobilizing more funding for building climate resilient infrastructures.

Economic Relations Division (ERD) Secretary Sharifa Khan made the call at the Board of Directors and 8th Annual Meeting of the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB) held on September 25-26 at Sharm El Sheikh in Egypt.

This year’s annual meeting focused on climate finance and bridging gap between public and private investment, said a Finance Ministry press release.

The main theme of this year’s annual meeting was “Sustainable Growth in a Challenging World,” which is very timely and significant as the global community, including the developed and developing countries, are now facing huge challenges.

Most of these challenges have been derived from the Russia-Ukraine War, climate change and global warming.

Speaking on the occasion, Sharifa said it is now very much essential to build climate resilient infrastructures as developing countries like Bangladesh are most vulnerable to climate change.

Therefore, the role of the AIIB is very much important to gain the fair share of the developing countries due to the impacts of the climate change and the emerging ensuing crisis.

On behalf of the Bangladesh delegation, Sharifa Khan highlighted these issues in the meeting.

At the meeting, AIIB President and Board Chairman Jin Liquin expressed the hope that the member countries would work together in efforts to tackle climate change. He said that AIIB would stand by its members to face the upcoming climate challenges.

“We must work together to rapidly reduce greenhouse gas emissions, build up stronger resistance to extreme climate events, and thus protecting the natural capital that makes life livable on earth,” he added.

During the two-day event, the Bangladesh delegation participated in Governor’s Business Round Table, Seminar and Governor’s Official Session.

Besides, the Bangladesh delegation also held a meeting with AIIB Investment Operations Region 1 – South Asia, Pacific Islands and South East Asia Vice President Dr. Urjit Patel.

During the bilateral meeting, the Bangladesh delegation urged the AIIB to make more tolerable the conditions of loans.

The meeting also discussed in details about the progress of the ongoing AIIB funded projects as well as the possible future projects.

It may be noted that AIIB’s investment in Bangladesh started in 2016 through a $165 million project in the power sector. In the first 3 years, AIIB financing to Bangladesh was $445 million against 4 projects, which has now increased to $3,270 million against 18 projects.

Bangladesh has now $4.5 billion financing in the pipeline from the AIIB for the next 5 years which is expected to play an important role in bridging the gap between public and private investment and mobilizing necessary financing to face the climate change impacts.

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