Joint Tourism Coordination Committee Meeting - 23^rd – 27^th December
On behalf of NMA, President Ang Tshering Sherpa participated in the 8^th conference of China's Tibet – Nepal Joint Tourism Coordination Committee meeting held in Lhasa, from 23 December 2014 to 27 December 2014. There were 17 delegates from Nepal participating in the meeting led by Director General of Department of Tourism Tulsi Prasad Gautam.

Nepalese athlete left for Korea - 7 Jan
Nepalese athletes Mr. Niraj Karki and Ms. Pancha Maya Tamang led by Mr. Prem Gurung, Member of Sport Climbing Committee left for Korea for the climbing training. The training is sponsored by Park Young Seok Exploration and Culture Foundation.  Both Karki and Tamang secured first position in Park Young Seok Climbing Competition in male and female category held on 7 and 8 Nov 2014. NMA President and other officials of NMA saw them off at NMA secretariat on 7 Jan.

Departure of trainees of AMC - 8 Jan
20 trainees of 24th Advance Mountaineering Course left for Langtang on 8 Jan 2015. The training started from 15 Dec 2014 and it will be completed on 28 Jan 2015. Mr. Pasang Tenzing Sherpa is coordinator for the training where as Mr. Tenzing Sherpa is the chief instructor for the training. NMA President and other officials of NMA were present at the time of departure on 8 Jan.

Convention in Sikkim from 13th -14 th January 2015
NMA delegation led by its President Ang Tshering Sherpa participated in SAATO Convention 2015, Namchi. The convention was organized by Sikkim Adventure Association of Tour Operators (SAATO) on 13 and 14 Jan 2015 with the theme of "Joining hands regionally and promoting North East Tourism Globally". The main objective of NMA's participation was to seek cooperation from Sikkim for the ongoing process of preparing the peak profile of all the opened mountains in Nepal. Since Nepal and Sikkim 27 mountains on the border and the exchange of technical knowhow and other information of these mountains will be very much useful for Peak Profile Preparation Committee.

NMA Delegation of SAATO Convention

1	Mr. Ang Tshering Sherpa	President	NMA
2	Dr. Hari Prasad Shrestha	Board Member	NMA
3	Mr. Bimal Naharki	Board Member	NMA
4	Ms. Kamini L Sherpa	Board Member	NMA
5	Mr. Nawang Dorjee Sherpa	Ex-Adviser	NMA
6	Mr. Jinesh Sindurakar	CEO	NMA
7	Ms. Radhika Shyangba	Account Officer	NMA
8	Mr. Keshab Bimali	Under Secretary	Department of Tourism
9	Mr. Rajendra Shrestha	Account Officer	Department of Tourism
10	Mr. Gyanendra Shrestha		Department of Tourism
11	Mr. Ang J.P.Lama	Member	Peak Profile Preparation Committee
12	Mr. Ang Phurba Sherpa	Member	Peak Profile Preparation Committee
13	Mr. Lhakpa Tille Sherpa	President	NMA Jugal Himal Chapter
14	Inspector Kumar Timsina	Member	Peak Profile Preparation Committee
15	Mr. Deepak Sharma Dahal	Member	Peak Profile Preparation Committee
16	Mr. Narayan Kumar Shrestha	Member	Peak Profile Preparation Committee
17	Mr. Jeevan Ram Sapkota	President	NMA Annapurna Chapter
18	Mr. Rajendra Subedi	Representative	NMA/NEAT
19	Mr. Adarsha Mahat	Representative	NMA/NEAT
20	Mr. Srijan Simkhada	Representative	NTF/NMA
21	Mr. Nawaraj Pandey	Representative	NTF/NMA
22	Mr. Megharaj Ghimire	Account Officer	NMA
23	Mr. Krisna Sharma	Vice President	NMA Annapurna Chapter

Inaugural program- 13 Jan
The inaugural program of the convention was organized on 13Jan at the community hall Namchi. Chief Minister of Sikkim Pawan Chamlin inaugurated the program by lighting panas. After the inaugural function, President of SAATO Shri Y Dorje gave welcome speech followed by the report from Gagan Rai, President of South Sikkim Tourism Development Society. The following personalities addressed on the function.

Tourism Secretary, Government of Sikkim

M.P Bezbaruagh, Member, North Eastern Council

Hans Koehler, Germany

Pawan Chamlin, Chief Minister of Sikkim

ICCR Group Guwahati, Ministry of External Affairs also organized cultural program, which include Step Dance and Taal Musuc.

The inaugural program ended with the vote of thanks SAATO General Secretary D N Pradhan.

Technical Session
After the inaugural function, an interaction program was organized at Hotel Hangkhim. The interaction was divided in two sessions.

Technical session I
The theme for this session was Marketing North East Region in Collaboration with Nepal and Bhutan. Representatives of Nepal, Bhutan, Assam, Manipur and Arunachal Pradesh gave presentation. On behalf of NMA, President Ang Tshering Sherpa and Executive Board Member Dr. Hari Prasad Shrestha explained about NMA's objectives, activities with special focus on Peak Profile Preparation Committee. The presentation explained about the reason behind the formation of Peak Profile Preparation Committee and how it can help in the promotion of mountain tourism if Nepal and Sikkim works together in preparing the profile of mountains shared on the border.

Technical Session II
The theme of the session II was How to promote North East India and BBIN Countries in European market? The resource persons for this session were Mr. Hans Khler, TAAN President Ramesh Dhamala and Representative, Sikkim Tourism Development Board.

14 Jan 2015
On the second day of convention, all the delegates were taken to Chardhaam for visit. Sikkim has developed this tourism spot as the sacred place, where all replicas of four pilgrimages (dhams) are constructed at the same place. After visit of this place, then delegation visited Jorethang Maghe Sankranti Mela. Chief Minister of Sikkim Pawan Chamlin was chief guest of the program. Different cultural programs were carried out in the program.

At the farewell gala dinner, gifts and presents exchanged program was held and on behalf of Nepal delegation, NMA President Mr. Ang Tshering Sherpa expressed gratitude and appreciation to the organizers for excellent arrangements and warm hospitalities. The chief guest of closing ceremony of the convention was attended by the Speaker of the house of parliament, Tourism Minister, other Ministers, parliament members, high official of government of Sikkim, dignitaries from abroad and other states of India at the Gala Dinner at Sobralia resort and Spa in Namchi.

Delegation at Department of Tourism- 31 Jan
NMA President led the delegation of different organizations and trekking companies to Department of Tourism in order to discuss about the newly amended royalty rate, insurance policy for climbing mountains. A request letter was also submitted to Director General Tulasi Prasad Gautam, in which it was appealed to Ministry of Culture, Tourism and Civil Aviation to review the royalty rate and insurance policy. Director General assured delegation team that he will look into this matter seriously and take initiative to solve this problem as soon as possible.