Islamabad , August 5: PTDC organized a concluding ceremony of the Golden Jubilee of K2 and the 51st anniversary of the first ascent of the Nanga Parbat at the National Library Auditorium, Islamabad . Raise Munir Ahmed, Minister of State for Minorities, Sports, Culture, Tourism and Youth Affairs presided. In recognition of the proactive involvement in the Golden Jubilee Celebration, IUCN Pakistan was presented a Commemorative Shield by the Honorable Minister. Abdul Latif Rao , IUCN Pakistan Country Representative received the Shield.

Ismail Khan of IUCNP also received a commemorative Shield from the Minister of Tourism, for his contribution as a tourism analyst over the years, and also for the advocacy during the Year of K2 activities. Other two presented memento in this category were Mustansar Hussain Tarar and Hanif Khan.

Large number of people (over 800) including donors, diplomats, officials and people from private sector, development agencies, mountaineers and experts attended the moot, which was primarily meant to solicit recommendation from key institutions regarding mountain tourism.

IUCN Pakistan Country Representative spoke on the occasion and presented a set of recommendations regarding sustainable mountain tourism in the Northern Pakistan . He flagged the key principles needed to integrate environment in the tourism planning and development process.

On the special request of PTDC and the Ministry of Tourism, IUCN's film on the Northern Areas ' Moving Mountains ' was again screened, which received enthusiastic applause from the audience. Special IUCN & Ev-K2-CNR publication on K2 and latest issue of Jareeda was also shared with the dignitaries.

Speakers including the Managing Director PTDC, President Alpine Club of Pakistan, President Adventure Foundations, Italian Ambassador and Chief Executive of the AKRSP as well as the Minister for Tourism himself acknowledged the efforts put in by IUCN towards placing 'conservation of mountain ecosystem and securing livelihood of the mountain communities' at the forefront of the public and policy debate generated by the Golden Jubilee Celebrations.