Pokhara, May 4: A two-day national workshop on “sports tourism in Nepal, Possibilities and Areas” organised by Nepal Press Union (NPU) central working committee under the auspices of the NPU Kaski unit began here recently.

Former Sports Minister and MP Sharat Singh Bhandari, advisor to the Ministry of Industry Ananda Raj Mulmi and tourism expert Karna Shakya are to present working papers at the workshop organised with an objective to make the bodies concerned attentive towards tourism development in the country through the medium of sports.

The workshop will also reach a conclusion following extensive discussion on the working papers.

Personalities associated with tourism, sports, industry and trade, and journalists from various parts of the country are taking part in the workshop.

Inaugurating the workshop, Minister of state for Local Development Suresh Malla lauded the effort made by NPU to draw the attention of the bodies concerned towards this important issue on the occasion of the World Press Freedom Day.

The press should always be conscious of its duty, he added.

MPs Sharat Singh Bhandari, Prakash Bahadur Gurung and Sukra Raj Sharma, member secretary of National Sports Council Binod Shanker Palikhe, advisor to the Ministry of Industry Ananda Raj Mulmi and other speakers also expressed their views at the programme chaired by NPU central president Kul Chandra Wagle.