Foreign minister heads to Fiji, Tuvalu for climate change pre-COP event

Foreign Minister Shishir Khanal is leaving for Fiji on Saturday, Asoj 17, to attend the Pre-COP Leaders' Event on climate change. A four-member delegation led by him will take part in the program being held in Fiji and Tuvalu on Asoj 19 and 20.

Minister Khanal will address the leaders' full session on Asoj 20, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said in a statement issued Thursday. Before that, he will take part in a joint question-and-answer session with journalists alongside the President of Palau and the prime ministers of Australia and Fiji.

The Pre-COP is being organized ahead of the COP31 summit, which begins in Turkey on November 9. Complex issues to be discussed at COP, such as climate finance, loss and damage, and carbon emission cuts, are usually settled at the Pre-COP stage itself.

The ministry expects that Nepal's participation in the forum will help raise the impact of climate change, climate justice, and the concerns of Himalayan countries at the international level. After the programs in Fiji and Tuvalu, Minister Khanal will travel to Australia.