Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal (Prachanda) is set to hold a separate round table meeting at the United Nations Conference of the Parties (COP28) to be held in Dubai of the United Arab Emirates (UAE), with the heads of states and governments of mountainous countries.
United Nations Secretary General Antonio Guterres and United Nations Deputy Secretary General Ms Rabab Fatima, who look after the Least Developed Countries (LDCs), Landlocked Developing Countries (LLDCs) and Small Island Developing States (SIDS) within the United Nations, have been confirmed to participate in the conference.
According to sources, Prachanda has also invited Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi to participate in the round-table meeting to be held under his chairmanship. The Indian delegation is headed by Prime Minister Modi.
Prime Minister Prachanda has invited not only India, but also the top leaders of the Chinese delegation to the round-table meeting. All leaders of South Asian countries have received the invitation from Prime Minister Prachanda.
Chinese President Xi Jinping is not scheduled to participate in COP28. The Chinese media have mentioned that Deputy Prime Minister Ding Xuexiang and Environment Affairs Interlocutor Xie Zhenhua will participate in COP28 on behalf of China.
US President Joe Biden is also unlikely to participate in COP28.
Prime Minister Prachanda is going to organize a separate 'sideline' meeting of the Himalayan nations during the COP28 for solidarity in dealing with the crisis caused by climate change.
The President of the Central Asian mountainous country of Kyrgyzstan, Sadyr Japarov, has indicated that he will participate in the round table meeting.
"We have received a positive signal from President of Kyrgyzstan, Zaparov," a source at the Foreign Ministry said, "leaders of some other mountainous countries will also participate in the round table meeting."
In order to discuss the effects of climate change and to have solidarity on the agenda, Nepal is going to organize a separate round-table meeting of mountain countries during the COP-28, the sources have said.
It is learnt that the round-table meeting will be held in room number 12 of the conference hall on Saturday morning (December 2). The round-table meeting will start at 9 am and will last until 1:30 pm. Prime Minister Dahal will address the conference.
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