By Our Reporter

The much-talked-about Sagarmatha Sambaad, a brainchild of Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli, finally turned into a fiasco.

Against the expectations of Prime Minister Oli and Foreign Affairs Minister Dr Arzu Rana Deuba, no heads of State or the Government attended the three-day Dialogue. Even no foreign ministers from neighbouring and friendly countries popped up.

During his earlier stint, Prime Minister Oli had floated the idea of holding the Sagarmatha Sambaad, but it was postponed because of the COVID-19 pandemic. Later, his government collapsed, and when he was reappointed Prime Minister in June last year, holding the Sambaad was his main goal.

However, the Sambaad only disclosed the poor diplomatic skills of the Oli-led government. It provided an opportunity to know how poor Nepal was in handling diplomacy. No prime minister and president gave value to our invitation.

Oli had invited Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, China's Prime Minister Li Qiang, UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres, Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Manet, presidents of different countries and foreign ministers. But none of them came. Of 175 foreign guests, mostly were ministers or government officials.

The tension between India and Pakistan also affected it as a few of them could not manage time to attend the Sambaad. But others did not attach importance to the Sambaad and its organisers.

From India, Minister for Environment, Forest and Climate Change, Bhupender Yadav, attended the Sambaad and from China, Xiao Qi, Vice Chair of the Thai Committee of the National People’s Congress of China, attended the event.

In the three-day event inaugurated by Prime Minister Oli, a video message from United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres was presented.

The inaugural session was attended by ministers from several countries, political leaders climate experts and activists from home and abroad.

The first edition of Sagarmatha Sambaad expected to foster sincere discussions, mutual knowledge exchange and collective action under the symbolic name of the world's highest peak, Sagarmatha ended by issuing a 25-point Kathmandu Declaration on Sunday.

The three-day conclave held under the theme 'Climate Change, Mountain and the Future of Humanity’ reaffirmed collective responsibility to save the planet and the future of humanity.

The dialogue reiterated the urgency to hold the increase in the global average temperature to 1.5 degrees Celsius, above pre-industrial levels by accelerating mitigation actions, building adaptive capacity and resilience, addressing loss and damage and strengthening partnerships to ensure a sustainable future for all.

The '25-point 'Sagarmatha Call for Action' made public at the end of the Sambaad, also encouraged countries to set ambitious emissions reduction targets in their Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs) to keep 1.5 degrees Celsius alive, aligned with the latest science that calls for urgent and transformative global action.

The Sagarmatha Call for Action recognised that climate change is an unprecedented challenge and that the well-being of present and future generations of humankind depends on an immediate and urgent response.

It also reaffirmed the commitments to implement the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), the Paris Agreement and the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.

It also recognised the role of mountain glaciers in regulating hydrological cycles and providing essential environmental services to mountain communities and the billions who live downstream in glacier-fed river basins. 

Speaking at the closing ceremony, Foreign Minister Arzu Rana announced that the second edition of Sagarmatah Sambaad will be organised in 2027.

The theme of the Sambaad was “Climate Change, Mountains and the Future of Humanity.