His Excellency Ambassador of France to Nepal Mr. Gilles Bourbao today visited Nepal Mountaineering Association (NMA) and discussed the possible perspectives of cooperation with NMA officials.

His Excellency Mr. Bourbao was received at NMA secretariat Nagpokhari, Naxal by President of NMA Mr. Santa Bir Lama, 2nd vice president Ms. Maya Sherpa, General Secretary Mr. Kul Bahadur Gurung, Secretary Mr. Tikaram Gurung, Secretariat member Shiva Bahadur Sapkota & Chief Executive Officer Mr. Kul Prasad Rai.

His Excellency Mr. Bourbao expressed his interest in working with NMA in mountaineering and related issues.

‘‘In my opinion, mountains could help us connect with each other. Nepal is famous for mountains and we do have mountains back in the France’’, His Excellency said, ‘‘If anything could connect the people of France and Nepal, that could be mountains. My father was also a mountaineer and Big fan of famous climber Maurice Herzog. So, I am interested in working in the field of Mountaineering. So, I am here today to discuss the possible way of cooperation.’’

NMA president Mr. Lama and General Secretary Mr. Gurung had suggested a possible way of cooperation. President Mr. Lama presented the proposal of completing the Maurice Herzog wall at Pokhara.

‘‘We have the Maurice Harzog wall at Pokhara with financial support from France. It is in the stage of restructuring as it gets old,’’ President Lama said, ‘‘Due to the financial deficit, it is left half way. We want to request His Excellency to see our proposal on this respect.’’

NMA General Secretary Mr. Gurung also proposed various ways of cooperation.

‘‘NMA is helping the children of mountaineers who have lost their lives while going mountaineering. But, due to the COVID-19 pandemic and increasing numbers of such children, we are being unable to provide the scholarship to all the children’’, Mr. Gurung Said, ‘‘we also want to establish a basket fund for the sake of mountaineers. It would be really significant if we could work on this.’’