Regional climate conference ends in Bangladesh
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A three-day Asian regional conference concluded Thursday in Bangladesh's capital Dhaka with a common agenda to be put in the next month's climate Conference of Parties (COP-16) in Cancun, Mexico on public health impact.
The meeting discussed health impacts of climate change in the region and identified key issues and challenges and the issue to be raised in the Cancun meeting for mainstreaming the health agenda in the global climate negotiation.
Bangladeshi Health Minister Ruhal Haque said the meeting reached the consensus to bring health in the forefront in the Cancun conference slated for Nov. 29 to Dec. 10.
The regional conference was attended by ministers, senior officials, health and environment experts from 11 countries of the region.
About 46 representatives from India, Nepal, Bhutan, Thailand, Sri Lanka, Myanmar, DPR Korea, Indonesia, Timor Leste, the Maldives and Bangladesh attended the conference.
The Bangladesh health minister said a series of consultations sponsored by the World Health Organization (WHO) has already been held in South and Southeast Asian countries to reach a common understanding and rise voices together to give due importance to health.
He alleged that it is unfortunate that human health was being neglected and sidelined in the past conferences of the United Nations.
