diff --git a/bbconf/_version.py b/bbconf/_version.py
index 49e0fc1..a5f830a 100644
--- a/bbconf/_version.py
+++ b/bbconf/_version.py
@@ -1 +1 @@
-__version__ = "0.7.0"
+__version__ = "0.7.1"
diff --git a/bbconf/config_parser/bedbaseconfig.py b/bbconf/config_parser/bedbaseconfig.py
index 66a3c1e..e14468f 100644
--- a/bbconf/config_parser/bedbaseconfig.py
+++ b/bbconf/config_parser/bedbaseconfig.py
@@ -281,11 +281,18 @@ def _init_boto3_client(
             warnings.warn(f"Error in creating boto3 client object: {e}", UserWarning)
             return None
 
-    def _init_r2v_object(self) -> Region2VecExModel:
+    def _init_r2v_object(self) -> Union[Region2VecExModel, None]:
         """
         Create Region2VecExModel object using credentials provided in config file
         """
-        return Region2VecExModel(self.config.path.region2vec)
+        try:
+            return Region2VecExModel(self.config.path.region2vec)
+        except Exception as e:
+            _LOGGER.error(f"Error in creating Region2VecExModel object: {e}")
+            warnings.warn(
+                f"Error in creating Region2VecExModel object: {e}", UserWarning
+            )
+            return None
 
     def upload_s3(self, file_path: str, s3_path: Union[Path, str]) -> None:
         """
diff --git a/requirements/requirements-all.txt b/requirements/requirements-all.txt
index 1d2c424..d84476c 100644
--- a/requirements/requirements-all.txt
+++ b/requirements/requirements-all.txt
@@ -1,6 +1,7 @@
 yacman >= 0.9.1
 sqlalchemy >= 2.0.0
-geniml[ml] >= 0.4.2
+geniml[ml] >= 0.4.3
+geniml[ml] < 0.5.0
 psycopg >= 3.1.15
 colorlogs
 pydantic >= 2.9.0