Bangladesh has become the Chair of the Delta Coalition as the Netherlands formally handed over the chairmanship to it. The chairmanship was handed over to Bangladesh Foreign Minister AH Mahmood Ali by the Special Envoy for International Water Affairs of the Netherlands Henk Ovink at a simple ceremony at UNHQ in New York recently. Bangladesh will remain the Chair of the Delta Coalition for the next one year and host a working session during COP 22 on November 7-18 in Marrakesh, Morocco, and a Ministerial Conference in the second quarter of 2017 in Dhaka during its chairmanship. The Delta Coalition is the world’s first international coalition of governments aiming to deal with inclusive and sustainable development in deltas, by combining economic development with adaptation and preventive measures reducing climate change risks and strengthening resilience. It is a government-to-government partnership of currently 12 countries: Bangladesh, Colombia, Egypt, France, Indonesia, Japan, Mozambique, Myanmar, the Netherlands, the Philippines, South Korea and Vietnam, said the Foreign Ministry here on Saturday. The Foreign Minister thanked the government of the Netherlands for this landmark initiative and their active contributions towards giving a concrete shape to the Coalition. Henk Ovink shared the outcomes of the first-ever Ministerial Conference of the Delta Coalition held on May 9-10 in Rotterdam, and expressed the hope that the partnership among the Coalition members will further be strengthened under Bangladesh’s chairmanship.
2016 / thedailystar.net