Our work forging increased regional cooperation has been guided by the Ministerial Declaration on the HKH Call to Action since its endorsement in 2020. In the landmark Ministerial Mountain Summit, ministers from all eight of our RMCs agreed to form a High-Level Task Force, which met twice in 2021. The first meeting was held in February 2021 and aimed to provide (a) an orientation and context to the Task Force members about the HKH Assessment, Call to Action, and the Ministerial Declaration, and (b) discuss the role, plan of work, and key actions of the Task Force in 2021.

The second meeting, held in April 2021, aimed to monitor the progress on the HKH Call to Action and to discuss on holding regular ministerial summit and science–policy forums. Discussions also touched upon terms of reference of the Task Force for strategic guidelines delivering on national, regional, and global action.

The HKH High-Level Task Force is mandated to assess similar regional collaborative platforms and mechanisms from different parts of the world and recommend a feasible configuration for the HKH region in a report to be submitted to the next HKH Ministerial Mountain Summit in 2022.