President Paudel, Maldives President meet: Collaboration in climate negotiations stressed

(Azerbaijan), Nov 12: President Ramchandra Paudel said that countries like Nepal and the Maldives which have been hit hard by climate change should ramp up bilateral collaboration on the issue and reciprocate in climate negotiations.     

President Paudel who arrived here leading a high-level Nepali delegation to attend the 29th Conference of the Parties (COP29) of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) beginning in Baku from Monday said so in a meeting with the President of the Maldives, Mohamud Muizzu on Tuesday.     

"Both the nations have been impacted by climate change, so I believe that we should strengthen our bilateral cooperation on this issue and cooperate in climate negotiations and make joint efforts for financial and technical cooperation for countries like ours," President Paudel was quoted as saying during the meeting.     

As founding members of the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC), Nepal and the Maldives have been playing an important role in the development of regional cooperation in South Asia.     

He said Nepal was making efforts to take forward the activities of SAARC and sought cooperation from all member states in this regard. Underlining the need to expand the connectivity between Kathmandu and Male and tourists visiting Nepal from the Maldives can have unique experiences here, President Paudel said that Nepal's mountains and beautiful islands of Maldives can be promoted with packages for tourism destinations to help in the economic development of both the countries.     

"Nepal is the best destination for foreign investment and we have established a one-stop service centre to facilitate foreign investment, which includes sectors like hydropower, tourism, infrastructure and information technology and agriculture," Paudel said.     

Nepal and the Maldives established diplomatic relations on August 1, 1980.     

During the meeting, Maldives President Dr Muizzu said the Maldives was ready to work together with the world, including Nepal, to mitigate the impact of climate change.     

Earlier today, President Paudel addressed the 'World Leaders Climate Action Summit' of the high-level session. The conference, which started on November 11, will continue till November 22.     

President Paudel arrived in Baku, the capital city of the Republic of Azerbaijan, via Doha, Qatar on Monday leading a Nepali delegation to the summit.(RSS)