Japanese and Nepalese scientists on Wednesday called for the conservation and commercial exploitation of medicinal herbs in Nepal.
Speaking at a Japan-Nepal symposium on medicinal herbs, Akihito Takano, a Himalayan medicinal resources expert at Japan's Showa Pharmaceutical University, said exploitation of the large variety of herbal plants in Nepal would be of great economic benefit to Nepal.
Japanese Ambassador to Nepal Mitsuaki Kojima also offered the assurance that Japan would help Nepal to promote the planting of medicinal herbs and "channeling them to the market."
Scientists at the symposium say the Himalayan region is home to one third of the world's 30,000 species of plants that have medicinal properties.
Nepal, which shares a large chunk of the Himalayas with the Tibet Autonomous Region of China and India, reportedly accounts for 70 percent of the Himalayan medicinal resources.
Some 250 scientists, researchers and industrialists are participating in the three-day symposium, which was declared open by Nepalese Foreign Minister Chakra Prasad Bastola.