Kathmandu, March 17

The first day of The Himalayan Consensus Summit organised by Himalayan Consensus Institute and Nepal Economic Forum kicked off today.

The summit seeks to design and search for sustainable alternative development paradigms.The theme of the summit is ‘Resilience, Readiness and Response’.

The opening plenary and two session took place on the first day.

Sujeev Shakya, chair of Nepal Economic Forum, the secretariat to the Summit said in his welcome address, “We hope the discourse will shake up the status quo, pushing us to shed thoughts that have not been worked on till now.

Over the next one-and-half days we look forward to exciting conversations and building up long-term collaborations.”

Laurence Brahm, Founder of Himalayan Consensus Institute talked about the core principles behind Himalayan Consensus. He said, “Solutions created by disaster and climate change in the Himalayan region will not come from academicians or international experts.

The response to challenges should be tackled through a local and practical approach. This is how we can avoid conflict and gain consensus, which is the purpose of the summit. Together we can create a Shangrilla.”

The plenary session brought together thought leaders who set the tone of the summit.

Sam Pitroda, innovator, policy maker and development thinker, said in a video message, “There is need to redesign the world. The new design is all about moving from democracy to inclusion; and consumerism to environmentalism.”

Nirupama Rao, former Indian foreign secretary said, “This is the time for us to understand that fragmented geographies must work as one.

Consensus is like the image of a sacred mandala free of blockages and all synchronised.” She added, “We are working towards creating a strategic relationship between India and China for the mutual benefit of the entire region.”

Zhang Zhi Ping, executive president of Finance Centre for South-South Cooperation; John Naisbitt, best-selling author and professor and Doris Naisbitt, director of Naisbitt China Institute in Tianjin, China also spoke.

The first session of the day, Shaking up the Status Quo: Searching for a new paradigm focused on bringing together practitioners who discussed the impact of natural disaster and coping with them.

Sarosh Pradhan, principal architect at Sarosh Pradhan and Associates was among the speakers.

The summit will continue till tomorrow.

Some of the key speakers tomorrow include Prof Mahendra Lama, Del Christensen, Ajay Dixit, Sashin Joshi, Renaud Mayer, Tim Goucher, Li Lin and Khampa Tshering, among others.

The Himalayan Times is the Media Partner.