Kathmandu, 16 May: The government is organizing the ‘Sagarmatha Dialogue’ for the first time, starting today, with the aim of informing the global community about climate change and its impacts, as well as finding solutions to the crisis. The main theme of the dialogue is “Climate Change, Mountains, and the Future of Humanity.” The event will run until Jestha 4 (May 18).
According to Foreign Minister and Chairperson of the Dialogue Management Committee, Dr. Arzu Rana Deuba, around 175 foreign guests and a similar number of Nepali participants are expected to attend the event. High-level delegations from 12 countries will participate. Distinguished guests from countries including China and India have already arrived, while others are on their way. A special audio-visual presentation introducing the dialogue will be shown at the opening ceremony. Delegation leaders from India and China, along with the COP-29 President and the climate representative of the President of Azerbaijan, are scheduled to address the gathering.
An audio-visual message from UN Secretary-General António Guterres will also be presented. Following the opening, a plenary session will be held with presentations from all participating countries and various international and regional organizations. Parallel sessions on specific topics will also begin today, all of which are scheduled to conclude by 4:30 PM on Saturday.
The sessions will focus on in-depth discussions, exchanges, and analysis among politicians, policymakers, scholars, experts, and researchers to highlight solutions and opportunities related to climate change and mountain-related issues. In total, 61 national and international organizations and institutions—including SAARC, BIMSTEC, the World Bank, the Asian Development Bank, universities, research centers, civil society, and NGOs—will take part.
To organize the dialogue, a high-level steering committee chaired by Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli has been formed, along with a management committee led by Foreign Minister Dr. Arzu Rana Deuba and co-chaired by Forest and Environment Minister Ain Bahadur Shahi Thakuri. A secretariat has also been formed under the coordination of Raj Kumar Shrestha, Secretary at the Office of the Prime Minister and Council of Ministers.
According to Dr. Maheshwar Dhakal, Joint Secretary at the Ministry of Forests and also Member Secretary of the Secretariat, the event will feature a high-level opening session, a plenary session, parallel sessions, and some side events. On the final day, a mountain flight will be arranged for the foreign guests to view the Himalayas, and the Kathmandu Declaration of the dialogue will be issued.
The dialogue is expected to be a useful platform for sharing Nepal’s best practices in conservation with the world and for learning effective global approaches to address the climate crisis. As the United Nations has declared 2025 as the International Year of Glacier Preservation, issues related to the Himalayas will be prominently raised in the dialogue.
Sagarmatha Dialogue is a multi-stakeholder forum dedicated to discussing major global, regional, and national issues. It is named after the world’s highest peak, Sagarmatha (Mount Everest), and aims to promote the concept of shared interest and collective well-being of humanity. The government has already decided to organize the dialogue every two years.
