BIMSTEC Summit in August 30-31

Kathmandu, July 19: The fourth BIMSTEC Summit 2018 will be held on 30 and 31 August this year with poverty alleviation as the top agenda, according to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MoFA).

Although the government last month had announced to organise the summit of the BIMSTEC (Bay of Bengal Initiative for Multi-Sectoral Technical and Economic Cooperation) by the end of August this year, the member countries were to confirm the date.

“We have got the formal confirmation for the date and participation from all the members. Some of the countries have already sent the names of the delegations as well,” said Ram Babu Dhakal, Coordinator of the BIMSTEC Secretariat at the MoFA.

The sub-regional forum, established in 1997 through Bangkok Declaration, has seven members – Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Myanmar, Nepal, Sri Lanka and Thailand.

Likewise, 19^th BIMSTEC Senior Officials’ Meeting and 16^th BIMSTEC Ministerial Meeting will be held on 28 and 29 of August, on the eve of the summit.

Poverty alleviation will be a top agenda in the fourth BIMSTEC Summit along with connectivity.

Although transport and energy connectivity, people-to-people contact, counter-terrorism and cross-border crime, and trade will be important sectors of deliberations, poverty alleviation would be the primary agenda for the upcoming summit of the BIMSTEC, said Dhakal.

Nepal is the current chair of the regional initiative and also leads the poverty alleviation sub-sector. The third Summit of the BIMSTEC in Ney Pi Tah, Myanmar in 2014 had passed the chairmanship of the regional body to Nepal.

According to the MoFA, the member countries will also sign on various instruments of regional cooperation, however the modality of such instrument is yet to be decided.

Such instruments or agreements are likely to be signed as the Memorandum of Understandings (MoUs) or agreements.

“Focus of such instruments will be regional cooperation and collaboration on various sectors , socio-economic development of member countries, deepening transportation and communication connectivity, trade and investment, and people to people contact,” Dhakal said.

Other priority areas of BIMSTEC cooperation are technology, tourism, fisheries, agriculture, cultural cooperation, environment and disaster management, public health and climate change.

Dhakal said that it was a historic opportunity for Nepal, and the government had attached high importance to the BIMSTEC.

Although the government had planned to hold the summit of BIMSTEC in 2017 and included it in its policies and programmes for the Fiscal Year 2016/17, it couldn’t be organised due to elections and political transition.

Published in The Rising Nepal daily on 20 July 2018.