BIMSTEC : Meeting
The first-ever Foreign Ministers’ meeting of the Bay of Bengal Initiative for Multi-Sectoral Technical and Economic Cooperation (BIMSTEC) recently began in Bangkok
- BIMSTEC is a regional organization comprising seven Member States lying in the littoral and adjacent areas of the Bay of Bengal, constituting a contiguous regional unity.
- It came into being on 6 June 1997 through the Bangkok Declaration.
- It constitutes seven Member States: five deriving from South Asia, including Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Nepal, Sri Lanka, and two from Southeast Asia, including Myanmar and Thailand.
- Permanent Secretariat of BIMSTEC is operational since September 2014 in Dhaka.
- There are 14 priority areas 1) Counter terrorism and transnational crime, 2) Transport & Communication, 3)Tourism, 4) Environment and Disaster Management, 5)Trade and Investment, 6) Cultural Cooperation, 7) Energy, 8) Agriculture, 9 )Poverty Alleviation, 10) Technology, 11) Fisheries, 12) Public Health, 13) People-to-People contact 14) Climate Change.
- Each country takes lead in specific areas.
- India is the Lead Country in four areas, viz Counter-Terrorism and Transnational Crime, Transport & Communication, Tourism, and Environment and Disaster Management.
