 Bangladesh has demanded immediate release of quick funds and agreement on a robust plan for next year's climate summit in Durban, South Africa. Bangladesh's state minister for environment, Hasan Mahmud, told a high-level plenary session at the Cancún climate talks on Wednesday that he wanted to see an ambitious work plan leading to the next summit in Durban. The junior minister suggested that the 16th session of the UN climate convention where about 190 countries were expected to lay down the foundation for an overarching climate deal during the 17th climate session, must take up ambitious plans. Mahmud, however, reminded his audience that although one had to be realistic, "time is of the essence", indicating the dire plight of millions of people suffering from the fall-out of climate change. He stated Bangladesh's preference for an agreement under the UN convention as well as continuation of the Kyoto Protocol, saying, "The two existing tracks must continue in the negotiation process." The Bangladesh junior minister spelled out that a 'Cancun Package' should ensure "preferential treatment" of the poorest countries, island states and African countries — considered to be most threatened by climate change — "in allocation of fast start finance". He ended his speech calling, once again, for a comprehensive and collective emission reduction plan and also suggested that regardless of their exemption in the Kyoto Protocol, emerging and developing countries must also take on obligatory emission reduction commitments because their situation has changed since the protocol was agreed upon. "All countries of the world should play their due role in mitigation, whether voluntarily or on a mandatory basis irrespective of definitions or special status for countries agreed to twenty years earlier because circumstances of many countries have changed dramatically since then," said Hasan Mahmud.