‘Democracy, human rights facing alarming challenges across the world’
US Ambassador to Bangladesh, Earl R Miller, is leaving Bangladesh today, after more than three-year tenure in Bangladesh. The global and regional politics, as well as the bilateral relationship, has undergone much change during this time. Miller has shared his views in an exclusive email interview with Porimol Palma of The Daily Star. DS: During your tenure here, Bangladesh and the whole world went through a lot of challenges, including the coronavirus pandemic, Rohingya crisis, US withdrawal from Afghanistan, and the change in the US presidential administration. All of these had impacted Bangladesh. What are your observations and the lessons that Bangladesh can learn?
Miller: Nations need to work together more closely than ever to address global challenges. Alliances are to be treasured, not as burdensome relics, or even commercial endeavors, but as a web of bonds, of values, of influence, whose collective value far exceeds that of each party. The Covid pandemic, Rohingya and other refugee crises, climate change, terrorism, military buildups that threaten neighbors, all remind us how interconnected and interdependent we are on this vulnerable planet we are responsible to share and protect together. I'm proud of the US- Bangladeshi partnership and our work together the past three years on these global issues as well as on development, economic growth, and security.
DS: In the last weeks of your tenure here, the United States took some measures on Bangladesh. It slapped sanctions on the Rapid Action Battalion and seven of its current and former top officials. Bangladeshi authorities found it quite surprising, given the fact that both the countries have very strong ties, and that Washington could have consulted Dhaka before the sanctions. Please tell me what message the United States is actually sending to Bangladesh? Foreign Minister Momen also wrote to US Secretary of State Antony Blinken requesting to reconsider the sanction. What's Washington's stance now?
India targets net-zero carbon emissions by 2070, says Modi
India’s economy will become carbon neutral by the year 2070, the country’s prime minster has announced at the COP26 climate crisis summit in Glasgow. The target date is two decades beyond what scientists say is needed to avert catastrophic climate impacts. India is the last of the world’s major carbon polluters to announce a net-zero target, with China saying it would reach that goal in 2060, and the United States and the European Union aiming for 2050.
COP26: What climate summit means for one woman in Bangladesh
China's carbon emissions are vast and growing, dwarfing those of other countries. Experts agree that without big reductions in China's emissions, the world cannot win the fight against climate change. In 2020, China's President Xi Jinping said his country would aim for its emissions to reach their highest point before 2030 and for carbon neutrality before 2060. His statement has now been confirmed as China's official position ahead of the COP26 global climate summit in Glasgow. But China has not said exactly how these goals will be achieved.
Why China's climate policy matters to us all
China's carbon emissions are vast and growing, dwarfing those of other countries. Experts agree that without big reductions in China's emissions, the world cannot win the fight against climate change. In 2020, China's President Xi Jinping said his country would aim for its emissions to reach their highest point before 2030 and for carbon neutrality before 2060. His statement has now been confirmed as China's official position ahead of the COP26 global climate summit in Glasgow. But China has not said exactly how these goals will be achieved.
Deliver on promises, developing world tells rich at climate talks
A crucial U.N. conference heard calls on its first day for the world's major economies to keep their promises of financial help to address the climate crisis, while big polluters India and Brazil made new commitments to cut emissions. World leaders, environmental experts and activists all pleaded for decisive action to halt the global warming which threatens the future of the planet at the start of the two-week COP26 summit in the Scottish city of Glasgow on Monday. The task facing negotiators was made even more daunting by the failure of the Group of 20 major industrial nations to agree ambitious new commitments at the weekend.