NEW DELHI : Prime Minister Narendra Modi will attend the 5th BIMSTEC Summit hosted by Sri Lanka virtually on March 30, the Ministry of External Affairs said on Saturday.
“The Summit Meeting, which is being held in virtual mode, will be hosted by Sri Lanka, the current Bay of Bengal Initiative for Multi-Sectoral Technical and Economic Cooperation (BIMSTEC) chair,” the statement read today.
According to MEA, to prepare for the Summit, meetings of BIMSTEC Senior Officials (SOM) will take place on March 28, 2022, followed by meetings of the BIMSTEC Foreign Ministers (BMM) on March 29.
The COVID-19 pandemic-related challenges, and the uncertainties within the international system that all BIMSTEC members are facing, imparts greater urgency to the goal of taking BIMSTEC technical and economic cooperation to the next level.
This is expected to be the main subject of deliberations by Leaders at the Summit. The Leaders are also expected to discuss the establishment of basic institutional structures and mechanisms of the group.
The Bay of Bengal Initiative for Multi-Sectoral Technical and Economic Cooperation (BIMSTEC) is a regional organization comprising seven Member States around the Bay of Bengal region. BIMSTEC constitutes a unique link between South and South-East Asia with five Members from South Asia (Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Nepal and Sri Lanka) and two from South-East Asia (Myanmar and Thailand).
