The Foreign Secretary will fly out to Doha this evening (1 September) for talks with his Qatari counterparts as part of the government’s work with partners on the situation in Afghanistan.

The immediate priority is to progress the practical arrangements to enable those UK nationals and Afghans who have worked for us to travel to the UK. The Foreign Office has been working with the Home Office and Ministry of Defence on this issue and is deploying specially trained crisis teams to countries in the region to support this effort.

The visit will also be an opportunity to discuss with important regional partners the Government’s four key priorities for Afghanistan:

• preventing Afghanistan becoming a haven for terrorists
• responding to the humanitarian plight
• safeguarding regional stability
• holding the Taliban to account on human rights

It comes as the Prime Minister and Foreign Secretary continue to rally a broad coalition of countries around shared aims in response to the crisis, including testing the workability of an International Contact Group of which Qatar would be a key member.

The Foreign Secretary will meet with the Amir of Qatar, Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani, and the Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani.

Before heading to the airport, the Foreign Secretary spoke again to the Indian Foreign Minister, Dr Subrahmanyam Jaishankar, who is currently travelling in Europe. It was an opportunity for the Foreign Secretary to thank the Indian government, which held the UN Security Council Presidency in August, for its help in securing the adoption of the UN Security Council Resolution on Afghanistan, jointly tabled by the UK, and to discuss how the international community can continue to work together on our shared aims.

Meanwhile Lord Ahmad will travel to Tajikistan for talks on Friday on the same set of issues – securing safe passage for those fleeing Afghanistan and advancing the government’s international priorities.

Today, in the 11th Economic and Financial Dialogue, the UK and India welcome the launch of the Climate Finance Leadership Initiative (CFLI) India partnership. Through this partnership, the CFLI, a group of leading financial institutions responsible for $6.2 trillion in assets, led by UN Special Envoy for Climate Ambition and Solutions Michael Bloomberg, will work with financial institutions, corporates, and existing sustainable finance initiatives, to accelerate efforts to mobilise private capital into India.

CFLI India will be co-chaired by Shemara Wikranamayake, CEO of Macquarie Group and Natarajan Chandrasekaran, Chairman of Tata Group. CFLI India will be supported by Bloomberg, the Global Infrastructure Facility, Her Majesty’s Government, Government of India and City of London Corporation. Each party will contribute to this shared mission through their respective strengths and roles.

Focusing on private sector financing of sustainable infrastructure projects in specific low-carbon sectors to support India’s ambition of meeting their nationally determined contribution (NDC), CFLI India will deliver impact through 2 complementary activities:

• directly mobilizing capital through existing or new equity financing vehicles, co-created with local stakeholders and tailored to India’s market needs, over the life of the CFLI India, to catalyse sustained private investment at scale
• advancing public-private collaboration by partnering with the Government of India and the multilateral development finance institutions to address a targeted set of sector-specific policy opportunities to strengthen the enabling environment for private capital in India. Through this collaboration, CFLI India seeks to reinforce international investor confidence in India’s low carbon transition, opening access to rapidly growing offshore pools of sustainable capital

Going forward, CFLI India will launch its ecosystem of country relevant technical assistance initiatives, sustainable infrastructure project preparation and pipeline development, and support financing vehicles and funds to facilitate accelerated private capital mobilization at scale for India’s low-carbon, climate resilient development.

A new walk-through coronavirus testing facility has opened for those with symptoms to book appointments at Beach Street Car Park West (LL57 1AT) in Bangor, as part of the UK Government’s UK-wide drive to continue to improve the accessibility of coronavirus testing for local communities.

The UK testing programme is delivered on a four nations basis, with the UK Government working with Welsh Government to increase access to testing.

Testing at this site is only available for those with coronavirus symptoms – a high temperature, a new continuous cough, or a loss or change to your sense of smell or taste. Anyone with one or more of these symptoms can get a test at the site, or by booking a test at nhs.uk/coronavirus or calling 119. The UK Government is committed to making it even easier for everyone to get tested and reduce the time it takes to receive test results.

Testing at the new site started on Saturday, 28 August, with appointments made available each day.

Secretary of State for Wales, Simon Hart, said:

The opening of this new test centre in Bangor helps local people access these facilities without travelling long distances. It’s vital that people get tested if they have symptoms and the UK Government is committed to making that as easy as possible.

There are UK Government testing facilities all across Wales, and the hard work they are doing, along with the NHS and their partners, is playing a hugely important role in our fight against the virus.

The Covid-19 pandemic is not over and we are asking everyone to remain cautious and self-isolate if told so by NHS Wales Test Trace Protect. I urge anyone who is living in the Bangor area to use this new facility and get tested if they have any symptoms.

The new Bangor site is part of the largest network of diagnostic testing facilities created in British history, which has been massively expanded with the introduction of free, twice-weekly rapid tests for everyone in Wales. Rapid testing detects cases quickly, meaning positive cases can isolate immediately.