Brown made the announcement after meeting Bangladesh's interim head of government Fakhruddin Ahmed in Britain on Tuesday, the state-run BSS news agency said.

During the meeting, Brown "assured that Britain would continue to work closely with Bangladesh bilaterally and internationally to secure an effective response to combat climate change," it added.

The leaders did not give a timeframe, but a top bureaucrat at the government's planning ministry said the conference is expected to be held from May 21-23 with the British government as the joint host.

"Top donors of the country would join the conference where we will show in full detail how Bangladesh is being hugely affected by carbon emissions, sea-level rises and and global warming," economic relations division secretary Aminul Islam Bhuyan told AFP.

Bangladesh has been hard hit by weather disasters in recent decades, with regular floods and cyclones in the low-lying delta nation.

Last year the country was devastated by floods and a major cyclone, costing billions of dollars and sending the price of rice, the staple crop, soaring.

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