16 Oct

Union Minister for Natural Resources and Environmental Conservation U Ohn Winn attended the Hindu Kush Himalaya Ministerial Mountain Summit 2020 via videoconferencing yesterday as it was organized by the International Centre for Integrated Mountain Development — ICIMOD.

It was also attended by Director-General of Forest Department Dr Nyi Nyi Kyaw, in his capacity as the Governing Body Member of ICIMOD.

At the Summit, Union Minister U Ohn Winn said the summit seeks to strengthen regional cooperation for the sustainable development of the Hindu Kush Himalaya and for the long-term sustainability of mountain ecosystem and as a founding member of ICIMOD, Myanmar is cooperating with ICIMOD in areas such as biodiversity conservation, climate change mitigation, socio-economic development of local people in mountainous areas and watershed conservation.

The Union Minister also expressed words of thanks to ICIMOD for coordinating and implementing cooperation programmes for regional countries to work together and he also said, the HKH Call to Action, developed by local experts under the auspices of ICIMOD, could strengthen regional cooperation for long-term sustainability of mountain ecosystems and the social development of the people in mountainous areas.

Afterwards, a statement was issued by the Hindu Kush Regional Ministers. The statement stated to hold a biennial meeting of ministers to strengthen regional cooperation and review developments; to unitedly represent the Hindu Kush Himalaya Region at regional and international conferences and UN conferences; to regularly hold a multi-stakeholder Hindu Kush Himalaya Science and Policy Forum (HKH Science-Policy Forum) to take into account more scientific findings in developing policies to promote mountain ecosystems and livelihoods and to explore the potential for establishing an organizational system in the region in order to implement the HKH Call to Action by forming a task force with the high level representatives from the 8 countries in the region.

The Hindu Kush Himalaya Ministerial Mountain Summit was held for the first time and was also participated by the ministers from Myanmar, Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, China, India, Nepal and Pakistan. 

MNA (Translated by Ei Phyu Phyu Aung)