KATHMANDU, Sept. 3: Minister for Foreign Affairs Pradeep Kumar Gyawali, who is currently visiting the Maldives, has invited his Maldivian counterpart Abdulla Shahid to visit Nepal to attend 'Sagarmatha Sambad' to be held in April 2020.

During his meeting with Shahid in Male on Monday, Gyawali extended an invitation to visit Kathmandu during the 'Sagarmatha Sambad'. The Maldivian foreign minister accepted the invitation, according to a press release issued by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MoFA).

The government has already decided to organize “Sagarmatha Sambad,” in Kathmandu to host dialogues with the countries from South Asia and beyond on contemporary global issues such as climate change and global warming. The Sagarmatha Sambad will witness deliberations on matters pertaining to contemporary international issues, according to MoFA.

Once launched, this would be first-ever flagship international forum to be run by the Nepal government where the government will share the country’s prime concerns including effects of climate change and environment protection.

During their meeting, the two foreign ministers discussed various matters of mutual interest, including trade, tourism, climate change, and cooperation in the regional and global fora, according to the ministry.

Both ministers expressed satisfaction on the excellent state of bilateral relations and agreed to take them to newer heights.

While mentioning about the 'organic linkage' between mountains and oceans, Gyawali emphasized the need for greater cooperation among the mountainous countries and island states to address the challenges of climate change.

Gyawali extended thanks to the Government of the Maldives for providing employment opportunities to Nepali nationals. Shahid expressed gratitude to the Government of Nepal for providing scholarships to the Maldivian students to study in Nepal, especially in medical science.

The duo highlighted the potentials in the tourism sector and agreed, based on their national experiences, to collaborate for its promotion. In the context of Visit Nepal Year 2020, Gyawali urged his Maldivian counterpart to encourage visits of more Maldivian tourists to Nepal.

Minister for Foreign Affairs had reached the Maldives yesterday morning. He is scheduled to address a two-day Fourth Indian Ocean Conference being held in Male.

The theme of this year's conference is “Securing the Indian Ocean Region: Traditional and Non-Traditional Challenges”.

Foreign Minister Gyawali, who is listed as one of the speakers at the conference, will be in the company of Maldives' President Ibrahim Mohamed Solih, Prime Minister of Sri Lanka Ranil Wickremesinghe and the Foreign Ministers of India, Singapore, Maldives, Mauritius, and Bhutan.

The first edition of the conference was held in Singapore in 2016 followed by two successive editions in Sri Lanka and Vietnam.

The IOC will deliberate on developing an effective regional institutional mechanism for implementation of prevailing norms and rules, according to media reports.

Ministers from various countries, officials from 16 countries and scholars from over 10 countries, amongst others, are also expected to attend the two-day event.

 
• gyawali
 
• indian_ocean_conference
 
• invitation
 
• maldivian_counterpart
 
• sagarmatha_sambad