Diplomatic Desk:
President and CEO of the World Economic Forum (WEF) Alois Zwinggi paid a courtesy call on Prime Minister Tarique Rahman. The meeting was held at the Dalian International Conference Center in China at 5 pm local time on Tuesday (June 23, 2026).
During the meeting, Alois Zwinggi congratulated Prime Minister Tarique Rahman on assuming office as the head of government and praised Bangladesh’s development and climate resilience initiatives.
At the time, Prime Minister Tarique Rahman highly appreciated the various initiatives of the World Economic Forum to combat climate change. He called on the WEF to take coordinated and effective initiatives to support other delta states like Bangladesh, which are at risk from climate change, and countries threatened by sea level rise.
The Prime Minister said that Bangladesh has taken the initiative to implement a program to plant 250 million trees in the next five years. In addition, various programs are being implemented to restore the normal flow of water, reduce flood risks and protect the environment by re-draining about 20,000 kilometers of rivers and canals.
He also said that the government has provided tax incentives for solar power generation to increase the use of renewable energy and has taken a plan to generate 20 percent of the country’s total electricity demand from renewable sources by 2030.
Alois Zwinggi expressed interest in utilizing Prime Minister Tarique Rahman’s experience and leadership in combating climate change on a global scale. He said that Bangladesh’s climate resilience and sustainable development initiatives will attract the interest of international financing institutions and investors.
Assuring that the issues raised by Bangladesh will be seriously considered, the WEF President said that the World Economic Forum will continue to cooperate with Bangladesh to combat climate change and achieve sustainable development.
After the meeting, Alois Zwinggi invited Prime Minister Tarique Rahman to participate in the annual meeting of the World Economic Forum held in Davos, Switzerland.
At that time, Foreign Minister Dr. Khalilur Rahman, Prime Minister’s Foreign Affairs Advisor Humayun Kabir, Bangladesh Investment Development Authority (BIDA) Executive Chairman Ashiq Chowdhury and Prime Minister’s Additional Press Secretary Atiqur Rahman Rumon were present.
