Dhaka talks to focus on climate change, poverty

A regional gathering of policymakers, top executives and experts will unfold in Dhaka next week to prop up cooperation in South Asia to help address challenges in climate change, poverty and education.
The fifth roundtable of World Islamic Economic Forum Foundation on March 19-20 will look into new ways of overcoming these pressing issues that still besiege many countries in the region.
Organisers said global attention has been drawn to the plight of South Asian nations to find ways for the solutions of contemporary issues.
Regional leaders, industry think-tanks, leading executives and top management and experts will convene in one location to discuss, dissect and discover ways of overcoming various challenges of the region, they said in a statement.
Malaysia-based World Islamic Economic Forum Foundation (WIEF) and Bangladesh-based South East Asian Cooperation (SEACO) Foundation will jointly organise the roundtable at Radisson Hotel in the city.
The event is supported by High Commission of Malaysia in Bangladesh, Bangladesh-Malaysia Chamber of Commerce and Industry and the Bangladesh Federation of Women Entrepreneurs.
The conference has identified three critical issues to address: climate change, poverty alleviation through Islamic microfinance and quality in higher education through regional cooperation.
The first segment of the roundtable styled "Regional Cooperation to Combat Climate Change: The Way Forward" will focus on global warming, its impact on the economies of the region, and the strategies formulated at local and regional levels to help minimise the impact of the global challenge.
The "Islamic Microfinance: An Instrument for Poverty Alleviation" is the second topic. Organisers said the Islamic microfinance, a confluence of two rapidly growing industries -- microfinance and Islamic finance, has the potential to respond to unmet demand and combine the Islamic social principle of caring for the less fortunate.
The third segment "Private Higher Education: Creating World Class Institutions through Regional Cooperation" will address the growth phenomenon of higher institutions.