Kathmandu, Nepal: The meeting of the Bay of Bengal Initiative for Multi-Sectoral Technical and Economic Cooperation (BIMSTEC) is being held on upcoming August 10 and 11 in Kathmandu.
As Nepal is the current chair of the BIMSTEC, the Nepal government is going to host the meeting. According to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MoFA), all the Foreign Ministers of the member countries have confirmed their participation in the two daylong meeting that is being commenced from August 10.
BIMSTEC was established on June 6, 1997 comprising seven states in the littoral and adjacent areas of the Bay of Bengal. Earlier summit of the BRICS-Bimstec Outreach held in Goa of India in last October had decided to hold the next meeting in Nepal. Nepal, India Bangladesh, Myanmar, Sri Lanka, Thailand and Bhutan are the member countries of the BIMSTEC.
It is said that all the Foreign Ministers of the member countries’ have already confirmed their participation in the meeting. Among the Foreign Ministers, who are going to participate in the meeting, Indian Foreign Minister Susma Swaraj’s visit to Nepal is taken importantly because India is not only the close neighbor of Nepal but also the meeting is scheduled just ahead of the Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba’s India visit.
Though it is not confirmed officially, Indian Foreign Minister Swaraj is scheduled to hold high level meeting with different leaders including Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba, President Bidya Devi Bhandari and among others during her stay in Kathmandu.
