Cabinet meet at Everest on Friday

KATHMANDU, Nov 29: After almost a month´s uncertainty, the government has finally decided to hold a historic cabinet meeting at Gorakshep near the Everest Base Camp on December 4. [break]



The meeting to be presided by Prime Minister Madhav Kumar Nepal will entirely be dedicated to climate change issues. The meeting, which will be held at the sand ground at Gorakshep where table and chairs will be placed, is said to last for 20 minutes. Everest Base Camp is two hours trek from Gorakshep.



In this regard, the cabinet will announce 1900 sq km Api-Nampa Conservation Area, located in Darchula and Gaurishankar Conservation Area in the meeting. It will also endorse the Summitteers´ Summit Declaration, the climber´s march scheduled on December 11 on the sidelines of the COP-15 in Denmark.



The cabinet will also endorse the prime minister´s Nepal position paper, which the PM will read during the head of states conference at the upcoming UN Conference on Climate Change in Copenhagen.







Confirming the meeting, the PM´s press advisor, Bishnu Rizal, said, “It is now confirmed that the cabinet meeting will take place at the Base Camp on December 4.”



Minister for Forest and Soil Conservation, Deepak Bohara, who had proposed the concept to the prime minister a month ago, said no state fund will be used for the meeting. “We will not even use a penny from the state coffers,” Bohara told myrepublica.com.



Ministry sources said that some 25 donors have supported the event and some foreign diplomats have shown interest in attending the meeting. “We are keen to invite the ambassadors. They too have shown interest in joining the meeting,” a ministry source told myrepublica.com, adding, “Their presence will send a strong message of their moral support to Nepal´s concern over climate change issues.”



Two MI-17 choppers and three small rescue helicopters will be used for the event, which will be telecast live by the state-run Nepal Television. The cabinet meeting will be followed by a press conference at Syangboche. The ministerial team will leave Kathmandu for Lukla on December 3. A press conference is scheduled at Nepal Tourism Board on Sunday to announce the meeting. The conference will be jointly addressed by the forest, environment and tourism ministers at NTB.



akanshya@myrepublica.com

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