Category: News

The South Asia Regional Parliamentary Forum (SARPF) was inaugurated on 18 December 2024 in Delhi. The SARPF is a new initiative to bring together leading multi-party parliamentarians from Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Nepal, and Sri Lanka (BBINS) to engage in substantive discussions and foster collaborations on South Asian regional energy cooperation to address the shared challenges of energy security, accessibility, and affordability.

Dr Bhupendra Yadav, Indian Minister of Environment, Forest and Climate Change, Mr Kamlesh Paswan, State Minister of Rural Development, Dr Sanjay Jaiswal, MP and Chairperson, SARPF, Mr Ajay Mathur, Director General, International Solar Alliance and more than 35 MPs from India, Nepal, Sri Lanka and Bhutan took part in the inauguration and committed to working towards the transition to cleaner sources of energy, climate change challenges, and sustainable development.

SARPF steering committee members and senior parliamentarians from India – Hon. MP, Dr Sanjay Jaiswal, Chairperson, Parliamentary Estimates Committee; Nepal – Hon. MP Deepak Bahadur Singh, Chairperson of the Committee on Infrastructure Development; and Bhutan – Hon. MP Pema Drukpa, Chairperson of the Environment and Climate Change Committee – attended the 29th UN Climate Change Conference of the Parties (COP29) in Baku on 11-12th November 2024.

The delegation met with the senior leaders and country representatives of the negotiation teams of Bhutan, Nepal, Sri Lanka, and India, to discuss the regional climate and energy issues in South Asia and urge to formulate a collective regional response to these shared challenges.

The delegation called on the leaders of South Asia to launch a new framework for South Asian regional energy cooperation in the light of the looming climate emergency and sustainable energy transition goals in the region.

The South Asian MPs delegation met with the Prime Minister of Bhutan, Mr. Tshering Tobgay, the President of Nepal, Mr, Ram Chandra Poudel, the Nepal Minister of Forest and Environment, Mr. Ain Bahadur Shahi Thakuri who are leading their country delegation in CoP29.

They also met with the Mr B. K. Prabath Chandrakeerthi, Secretary, Ministry of Environment, Wildlife, Forest Resources, Water Supply, Plantation and Community Infrastructure who is leading the Sri Lankan country delegation along with three senior officials from the Ministry.

Launch of Climate Caucus in Sri Lanka Parliament, organized by South Asia Regional Parliamentary Forum (SARPF)

I shared the sustainable energy policy plans of the Government, the way forward and the challenges in implementing the policy plans.

SARPF Sri Lanka headed by Hon Eran Wickramaratne will be a valuable platform to address the issues of policy making and implementing plans on climate change impact and sustainable energy development.