New Delhi, April 17 (IANS) India and the International Big Cat Alliance (IBCA) signed the Headquarters Agreement on Thursday in New Delhi, which provides for India to be the host for the IBCA Headquarters and Secretariat and entails necessary provisions to enable IBCA to meet its intended objectives.

The agreement was signed by P Kumaran, Secretary (East), Ministry of External Affairs, and S.P. Yadav, Director General, IBCA.

"The text pertains to visas, privileges, and immunities to be extended to the IBCA Secretariat and personnel, premises, entry into force, supplementary agreements, and some general provisions. The Government of India shall provide budgetary support of Rs 150 crore to IBCA for creating a corpus, building infrastructure, and meeting recurring expenditure for five years from 2023-24 to 2028-29," the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) stated in a press release.

The International Big Cat Alliance (IBCA) was launched by Prime Minister Narendra Modi in April 2023 during the 'Commemorating 50 years of Project Tiger' event at Mysuru. The Cabinet, in its meeting held in February 2024 approved the establishment of IBCA with its headquarters in India. The IBCA and its Secretariat became a full-fledged treaty based inter-governmental international organisation and international legal entity from January 2025.

"The IBCA primarily aims for conservation of seven big cats namely Tiger, Lion, Leopard, Snow Leopard, Cheetah, Jaguar and Puma, with objectives like facilitation of collaboration and synergy amongst the concerned stakeholders, consolidation of successful conservation practices and expertise to achieve conservation of big cats around the globe," the MEA stated.

"The initiative seeks to foster international collaboration for the sustainable future of big cats, as well as underscores India's leadership and commitment to global wildlife conservation," it mentioned.

As of now, 27 countries, including India have consented to join IBCA, and several international/national organisations working in the field of wildlife conservation have also partnered with IBCA.

IBCA is a multi-country, multi-agency coalition comprising 95 big cat range countries, non-range countries with an interest in big cat conservation, conservation partners, scientific organisations engaged in big cat research, as well as business groups and corporates committed to supporting big cat conservation efforts.