The 137th Consultative Committee meeting of SACEP held on 20th July 2023 at SACEP Secretariat, Colombo at 10.00am chaired by H. E. Tareq Md Ariful Islam, High Commissioner, High Commission for the People's Republic of Bangladesh, and the Chairman of the Consultative Committee.
Mr. Vivek Sharma, First Secretary, High Commission of the Republic of India, Ms. Mariyam Zahir, Second Secretary, High Commission of the Republic of Maldives, H.E. Bashu Dev Mishra, Ambassador, Embassy of the Federal Democratic Republic of Nepal, H.E Wajid Hassan Hashmi, Deputy High Commissioner, High Commission of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan, Mr. Senarath Mahinda Werahera, Acting Director, Environment Pollution Control and Chemical Management Division, Ministry of Environment, Government of Sri Lanka and Dr. Md. Masumur Rahman, Director General of SACEP attended the meeting.
The welcome address was delivered by H. E. Tareq Md Ariful Islam, High Commissioner of the People’s Republic of Bangladesh in Sri Lanka. H. E. Gopal Baglay, the High Commissioner of India elected as the new chairman of the Consultative Committee of SACEP for the next one year. The Director General thanked the Chairman and the members of the Consultative Committee for their continued support extended to SACEP for implementation of its Governing Council decisions.
Moreover, The World Bank delegation led by Asferachew Abate Abebe (Outgoing Team Leader, Senior Environmental Specialist), Joseph Ese Akpokodje (Incoming TTL, Senior Environmental Specialist), Nina Tsydenova (Co- Team Leader and Environmental Specialist), Disna Bandara (Environmental Specialist) and the Project Implementation Unit staff of PLEASE project were also present during the sixth implementation support mission and provided a briefing to the Consultative Committee on the progress and way forward of the "Plastic Free Rivers and Seas for South Asia" (PLEASE) Project.
