As part of a series of events leading up to the Sagarmatha Sambaad, popularly known as the Everest Dialogue, Press Council Nepal organized a discussion program with media persons on Wednesday to gather suggestions on how the media can help ensure its success and attract international attention.

Scheduled for May 16 to 18, 2025, the Sambaad, on the theme ‘Climate Change, Mountains and the Future of Human Life’, is a global dialogue initiated by the government to address key issues of global, regional and national importance.

Speaking at a program titled “Climate Change, Sagarmatha Sambaad, and the Role of Media” held at the Council’s meeting hall, Chairperson of Press Council Nepal Bal Krishna Basnet said that strategic suggestions would be collected from journalists who regularly report on environmental and climate issues. These suggestions would be submitted to the government to support the global outreach of the Sambaad.

Basnet expressed confidence that Nepal’s efforts could succeed if journalists effectively communicated the message. The Sambaad is being organized to address the causes and impacts of, and human responsibility related to climate change.

“The Council will act as a bridge to bring the government, media and journalists together to work on climate change issues,” he said. The problems of the Himalayas to sea-level rise are not just Nepal’s concerns, they are global issues and must be raised in the Sambaad, he added.

Senior journalists made presentations in the program. In their presentations, Editor of the Annapurna Express English Daily Kamal Dev Bhattarai, Ramesh Bhushal and Shriram Subedi stressed that Nepali media must be able to deliver issue-based information effectively to the public.

“Government should ramp up its efforts to make the program a global dialogue in a true sense,” Bhattarai said.

They suggested that the government should involve international media and journalists to elevate the Sagarmatha Sambaad to the global stage.

Responding to the media persons, Secretary of the Ministry of Forests and Environment, Rajendra Prasad Mishra, said that the issues and suggestions raised in the program would be forwarded to the Sambaad Secretariat for immediate action.

Urging journalists and media outlets to communicate dialogue-related content in a series, he said that the event is an opportunity to place Nepal prominently on the world map.