American ambassador Michael E Malinowski hosted a reception here on Monday in honour of the participants of the first meeting of the consultative panel on the development of a framework for regional cooperation in flood forecasting and information exchange in the Hindukush Himalaya region,.

Present on the occasion were minister for population and environment Bhakta Bahadur Balayar, chief secretary Keshav Raj Rajbhandari, high ranking government officials, heads of diplomatic missions in Kathmandu and journalists.

A three-day Hindukush Himalaya flood forecasting and exchange of information meeting has been underway in Lalitpur from Sunday under the initiative of the International Centre for Integrated Mountain Development (ICIMOD).