Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina attended the three-day security conference held in Munich, Germany on 16-18 February. This was her first foreign trip since taking office for the fourth straight term. She participated in various activities of the conference as well as held several bilateral meetings.

While celebrating the 60th anniversary of the Munich Security Conference established in 1963, the world leaders had the opportunities to discuss the on-going security challenges in different parts of the world.

Sheikh Hasina placed six proposals at the panel discussion titled “From Pocket to Planet: Scaling Up Climate Finance” held on 16 February. In those proposals, she urged the world leaders to end the arms race and the brutal killing of unarmed civilians, as well as to provide necessary funds to protect countries affected by climate change. However, out of her six proposals, five proposals were related to climate-related issues.

The five proposals on climate issues were (1) Finding ways to release the funding allocation needed to tackle climate change; (2) Doubling the current level of adaptation financing to address acute funding imbalances for climate mitigation and adaptation; (3) Addressing long-pending issue of facilitating developing countries’ access to existing international climate funds; (4) Expanding access to grants and concessional loans for climate-vulnerable countries to reduce their debt burden, and (5) Investment by governments in right plans, policies and instruments to mobilise private capital flows for climate action. International financial institutions need to develop innovative, blended financing mechanisms to attract private capital for bankable projects.

In her proposal on the arms race issue, she said that the world must get rid of wars and conflicts, illegal occupations and brutal killings of unarmed civilians, especially women and children, which the world witnesses in Gaza and elsewhere.

Sheikh Hasina urged world leaders to end the arms race and divert resources to climate fund. She also described the measures taken by Bangladesh to overcome the problems caused by climate change and the dire situation that Bangladesh might face in the future.

The three-day conference was the largest event in the past few decades, attended by heads of states and governments of various countries as well as high-level policy makers. The on-going Ukraine-Russia war and the Palestine-Israel conflict and the future security concerns of Europe were much talked issues. The death of imprisoned Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny has also sparked interest among countries, especially Western countries.

At the conference, the Ukraine-Russia war gained special importance due to the activism of the European Union member states and Ukraine itself. Throughout the conference, Ukrainian President Zelensky and his top officials were seen meeting with representatives of various countries.

In the meeting between the Prime Ministers of Bangladesh and Ukraine, Sheikh Hasina referred to Bangladesh’s foreign policy and called for an end to the war. She also talked about strengthening Bangladesh’s bilateral relations with both Russia and Ukraine.

The conference emphasised a political solution to the on-going conflict between Palestine and Israel. In this case, the question of the united role of the European Union also arises. It was acknowledged that there would be no peace in the Middle East without ensuring the rights of the Palestinian people. Sheikh Hasina expressed Bangladesh’s fullest support for the rights of Palestinians by calling for an end to the killing of Palestinians by Israel.

Bangladesh has been playing an important role in all international forums on the issue of climate change. On behalf of countries at risk, Sheikh Hasina has been leading those forums with prudence and determination. That’s why, she emphasised the need for more funds to protect the interests of those countries.

The proposals presented by her are expected to play an important role in formulating the proceedings of the ‘COP-29’ to be held in Baku, the capital of Azerbaijan in November this year.

During the conference, Sheikh Hasina met and exchanged views with the delegations of many countries and international organisations. That has created an opportunity to change the previous attitude of the western world about the last election of Bangladesh. As a result, all countries and institutions have expressed their interest in working with Sheikh Hasina’s government to consolidate existing relations with Bangladesh. And that success came as a result of Sheikh Hasina’s participation at the Munich conference.
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The writer is a former Secretary and Ambassador