Hyderabad, August 28: Chief Minister N Kiran Kumar on Tuesday directed the officials to see that all arrangements are perfectly in place well before the Conference of Parties (COP-11), the global biodiversity conference, begins.
The Chief Minister held a detailed review of the arrangements for the global biodiversity conference with Ministers, Chief Secretary and top officials of the Central and State Government and other concerned departments on Tuesday at Secretariat. Ministers Dr J Geetha Reddy, DK Aruna, Vatti Vasantha Kumar, S Vijayarama Raju, G Prasad Kumar, Chief Secretary Minnie Mathew and other senior officials were present in the meeting.
The Chief Minister reiterated the point that common people including the staff of the IT companies working and residing in the vicinity of the Conference venue should not be put to any inconvenience. They should be given alternative routes to travel and there should be clear directions in this regard. The Conference on Biodiversity (CBD) Secretariat, officials of the Government of India and Andhra Pradesh will play the main role and they will guide the main activities. Officials from the Government of India thanked the Chief Minister for the guidance and interest shown by him and for the unstinted cooperation of the State Government officials and said the GoI is extremely appreciative of the work done so far.
The GoI officials said that Prime Minister Dr Man Mohan Singh will be the chief guest on the 17th of October and Union Minister of Environment and Forests and Communications will attend the meet. A commemorative stamp is also likely to be released on the occasion. Delegates from about 190 countries and Heads of Governments and Ministers from various countries are likely to participate. On an average, there will be 5,000 delegates attending the conference on each day. There will be a large media centre and publications will also be brought out on the occasion.
The Chief Minister released special brochures, booklets and posters on the Biodiversity conference.
The Chief Minister asked the GoI officials to quickly provide full details about the delegations participating in the Conference since time left is very short. He said since 2nd October is Gandhi Jayanti, there should be some unique programme at the Conference to commemorate the occasion. The Chief Minister asked the GHMC, R&B and other departments to work on war footing to complete the road works and storm water drains etc.
The Chief Minister said the cultural programmes to be staged during the conference should reflect the unity and diversity of the country. He said he will also address the special volunteers being trained for the occasion. The GHMC Commissioner said that 120 kms of road in and around the conference are being repaired and re-carpeted. He also said that murals are being carved on the pillars of the flyovers, traffic islands, junctions and sidewalks are being improved and spruced up.
The Chief Minister said that whatever works are being taken up should be of permanent nature so that Hyderabad city looks brighter after the conference also and the improvements done will be useful to the citizens. He said security should be of utmost importance.
The Conference on Biodiversity at Hyderabad, will be held from October 1st-19th at HICC. More than 8,000 delegates from 193 countries are expected to participate. Five themes identified for High Level Segment (HLS) are Biodiversity and Livelihoods, Integration of value of Biodiversity in National Planning and Accounting Process, Strategy for Resource Mobilisation, Coastal and Marine Biodiversity and Operationalisation of Nagoya Protocol.
- INN
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