Dhaka, Nov 09 (bdnews24.com)—The theme of the 2010 SAARC summit will be Climate Change, Bhutan has announced.

The 16th summit of the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation will take place in the Bhutanese capital Thimpu in April 2010, just four months after the crucial UN conference in Copenhagen that aims to secure binding global pledges on emission cuts.

Prime minister Sheikh Hasina returned Monday from a four-day tour of Bhutan.

During the visit, Bhutanese prime minister Jigmi Y Thinley thanked his Bangladesh counterpart for highlighting the impact of climate change on countries like Bhutan, alongside Bangladesh, in the global arena.

"We are grateful to you for your noble efforts in raising the issue prominently in important international forums," Thinley had told Hasina at a meeting on the second day of her visit.

Thinley also told Hasina that the 16th SAARC summit would focus on climate, according a joint-press statement of the two countries released Monday.

The two South Asian least developed countries have negligible contribution to global warming, but are among the victims.

Low-lying Bangladesh is feared to be one of the worst affected countries of the growing unpredictability of extreme weather and of rising seas.

Mountainous Bhutan will also be a victim of global warming, according to experts.

Hasina and Thinley during their bilateral talks discussed the probable impacts of climate change on the two countries.

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