Tuesday, April 2, 2019

Himalayan consensus summit concludes

The fourth edition of Himalayan Consensus Summit concluded today with six sessions and three presentations. The summit – an annual event bringing together pioneers, business and financial leaders across the region to forge pragmatic ways to local challenges – was hosted by the Himalayan Consensus Institute, Hong Kong with Nepal Economic Forum (NEF) as its secretariat.
The annual summit stands atop the Himalayan Consensus process that was initiated with the issuance of the Himalayan Consensus Declaration in November 2014, according to the organisers. "The process symbolises a unique paradigm focused on keeping socio-economic development abreast with environmental conservation in one of the world’s most economically dynamic, environmentally fragile and socially vulnerable regions that is the Himalayan region."
The process concentrates on Himalayan knowledge and traditions and channelises the same through the summit to achieve solutions in the form of concrete outcomes that are pragmatic, policy-driven as well as applicable and adapted by the concerned governments in the region.
The Summit this year was supported by Peak Re, a reinsurance company based in Hong Kong and the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation SDC as the principal sponsors. Altai Himalaya, Embassy of Australia in Nepal, Embassy of Federal Republic of Germany Kathmandu, European Union in Nepal, Himalayan General Insurance, International Labour Organisation (ILO) Country Office for Nepal and The Asia Foundation were the sponsors.
The Summit – cantered on the emerging concept of Himalayan Circular Economy – witnessed various presentations on impacts of climate change in the Hindu Kush Himalayan region. Likewise, speakers in other sessions highlighted the much needed transformation towards a prosperous and low-carbon development in the region and its effects on the contemporary developmental issues, particularly in the Himalayan region.
As four of the states in the Himalayan region are preparing to graduate from the least developed country status by 2025, one of the presentations in the summit analysed ‘the future of work’. ILO Country Office for Nepal director Richard S Howard, on the occasion, stressed that more investments need to be poured into peoples’ capabilities, institutions of work and decent and sustainable work.

No comments: