Dr. Ram Prasad Lamsal, joint secretary of Ministry of Population and Environment and focal point of UNFCCC Nepal, inaugurated Regional Dialogue on Financing Climate Resilient Growth in South Asia.

Organized by MOPE with collaboration of Action on Climate Today (ACT) and DFID-Nepal, experts and government officials from various countries and international agencies will discuss the issue related to climate finance in the two days regional dialogue.

Addressing the program Dr. Lamsal said that Nepal has already started several initiatives to track down the state of financing in the annual government budget. Dr. Lamsal said that this kind of workshop will help Nepal to build its own capability.

In the opening session head of DFID Nepal, Gail Marzetti said, “I greatly appreciate the leadership of Government of Nepal in agreeing to host this regional dialogue. This event is organized by the Ministry of Population and Environment (MoPE), Government of Nepal. This is the first time governments of the four countries India, Pakistan, Nepal and Afghanistan is meeting after the commitments made in Paris to share experiences with budgeting and financing approaches to support climate resilient economic growth.”

Achyut Luitel, Regional Director, Practical Action Nepal said that this kind of program will help to share the knowledge on climate financing.

Chaired by Dr. Lamsal, Asian development Bank Country Director Kenichi Yokoyama presented his views on opportunities and challenges for climate finance in South Asia.Youssef Nassef, director of Adaptation Program UNFCC, presented his views on International Perspective on Climate Resilient Growth.

Panelists were Batu Krishna Uprety NAP Team Leader, Nepal, Syed Rizwan Mehboob, PM’s Advisor on climate change Pakistan and Naseem Ahamad Sultani, Ministry of Agriculture, Afghanistan.  

Chaired by Thomas Beloe, Regional Governance and Aid Effectiveness Advisor, UNDP, the title of second session was Regional Experience with Mainstreaming Climate Change Finance in South Asia. Marcela Tarazone, ACT, Baikuntha Aryal, Joint secretary, International Economic Cooperation and Coordination Division, Ministry of Finance Nepal, Shamsul Haq Noor, fiscal Policy Advisor to the Ministry of Finance of Afghanistan and Ahasan Ullah Khan, Climate Finance Unit, Ministry of Climate Change Pakistan presented their views.