The visiting delegation of the European Commission yesterday said Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina with her timely and effective speech in the recent international conferences has brought herself and Bangladesh at the forefront of the global leadership regarding facing the climate change challenges.

Sheikh Hasina got the appreciation when a five-member delegation of the European Commission paid a courtesy call on her at the Prime Minister's Office (PMO) on Sunday morning. The European Commission delegation comprised Nirj Deva (Member of European Parliament (MEP) from UK), Franzisca Keller (MEP from Germany), Noccolo Rinaldi (MEP from Italy), Jean Lambert (MEP from UK), and John Attard Montalto (MEP from Malta). Prime Minister's Press Secretary Abul Kalam Azad briefed newsmen after the meeting.

The delegation members said Sheikh Hasina in the conferences has successfully identified the climate change risks and spelt out concrete suggestions for protecting the people from the natural calamities. During the meeting, Sheikh Hasina reiterated her call for forming an international committee under the UN supervision to oversee the global warming impacts on the globe and expedite the rehabilitation of the climate change victims.

She said at present Bangladesh and some other countries are facing the wrath of the global warming, but in near future many more countries will be victims of the dire consequences of the global warming. The Prime Minister sought EU support in next Copenhagen climate meet for a new legal regime under UNFCCC Protocol ensuring social, cultural and economic rehabilitation of climate migrants, establishment of International Climate Adaptation Center in Bangladesh.

She also stressed the need for united stand of the international community in the Copenhagen conference on various matters including fund for addressing the threats of the climate change. As the European Commission delegation assured the Prime Minister of standing by Bangladesh and its people to face the climate change challenges, Hasina said the financial assistances on climate change issues must be distinct from all other funds.

She told the European Commission delegation that though her government took an action plan of US$ 100 million, the amount is meager in terms of the funds urgently needed to face the climate threats. The action plan adopted by the Bangladesh government includes 15 development programmes including launching capital and maintenance dredging in the country's major rivers, she said.

Hasina said her government's one of the priority tasks is to turn Bangladesh into a food-sufficient country again, as the previous Awami League government had done during its 1996-2001 tenure. The government, she said, is working relentlessly to increase the country's food production and food storage capacity through building more silos and godowns. Already, Bangladesh has been successful in cultivating salinity-resilient crops in the coastal areas as a significant achievement in the path of its fight against climate change issues. But the increasing global warming has appeared as the biggest obstacle to the path of attaining the development targets for Bangladesh, the Prime Minister said.

Bangladesh needs international assistances to protect its people from the disastrous impacts of the global climate change, Sheikh Hasina said. "A country alone cannot face the climate threats," she observed. Principal Secretary to the Prime Minister MA Karim, PMO Secretary Mollah Waheeduzzaman, European Commission Ambassador in Dhaka Stefan Frowein and Ambassador Ziauddin were present.

-New Nation