Despite being invited, CA not to attend UN Ocean Conference in France

Chief Adviser Prof Muhammad Yunus is not attending the upcoming UN Ocean Conference scheduled to be held in Nice, France due to his preoccupation at home.

A highly placed diplomatic source said on Tuesday that the chief adviser was invited to attend the UN event, but he is not able to attend it.

However, there have been no official remarks from Dhaka.

The diplomatic source said it is basically a UN event, and France is the host country.

The high-level 2025 United Nations Conference to Support the Implementation of Sustainable Development Goal 14: Conserve and sustainably use the oceans, seas and marine resources for sustainable development (the 2025 UN Ocean Conference) will be co-hosted by France and Costa Rica and held in Nice on 9-13 June.

Meanwhile, The Economic Times of India reported that French President Emmanuel Macron has “refused” a bilateral format meeting with Bangladesh interim government Chief Adviser Prof Yunus on the sidelines of the international conference next month, a decision that is being seen as a setback for Yunus' global outreach.

It said Yunus was all set to visit France to attend the Third United Nations Ocean Conference, and Dhaka had requested a meeting between Yunus and Macron on the sidelines of the conference.

However, France was not accepting the proposal for that meeting following which Yunus' visit to France had to be cancelled, hinted persons familiar with the matter, reports The Economic Times.

The French president plans to host a dinner for the participants on 8 June.

The Indian media quoting sources from Dhaka informed that after receiving the invitation from France, Bangladesh made huge efforts to arrange a bilateral meeting between Macron and Yunus.

Paris informed that many countries interested in attending the conference have already requested a bilateral meeting, indicating that there was no scope for another bilateral meeting.

France has informed that it does not want to combine bilateral meetings with the conference and was keen for Yunus to attend the ocean meet.

Sources speaking on the condition of anonymity indicated France was keen to understand the desired outcome of the bilateral meeting and did not want a mere meeting just for the sake of it, reads The Economic Times report.

Bangladesh had earlier expressed interest in buying civilian aircraft from France but there has been no progress on that.

Bangladesh may now be represented by some other official at the ocean meet.