The foreign secretaries of the BIMSTEC member states are going to hold a discussion virtually on September 2 about the role of the seven countries grouping in the post-pandemic world.
Bangladesh, India, Bhutan, Myanmar, Nepal, Sri Lanka and Thailand are the members of the Bay of Bengal initiative for economic and technical cooperation that began in 1997.
The aim was to promote cooperation in the areas of trade, investment, technological exchange and other interrelated areas and contribute to peace, progress and prosperity in the region.
It connects South Asia with Southeast Asia, and serves as a platform for inter-regional cooperation between SAARC and ASEAN members.
But now it is being seen as an alternative to SAARC by some think-tanks following India-Pakistan tensions that led to the postponement of summits since 2016.
The BIMSTEC secretariat which is based in Dhaka said on Monday the 21st Session of the BIMSTEC Senior Officials’ Meeting (SOM) comprising Foreign Secretaries of the BIMSTEC Member States will be held virtually in Colombo, Sri Lanka.
The foreign secretaries will discuss BIMSTEC’s role in post-COVID-19 recovery and rehabilitation with emphasis on poverty alleviation, food security and uninterrupted economic and physical connectivity in the region.
“The meeting will also finalise some important agreements and documents including BIMSTEC Charter envisaged to be signed or launched at the Fifth BIMSTEC Summit,” it said.
Earlier, the Fifth BIMSTEC Summit and the Seventeenth BIMSTEC Ministerial Meeting scheduled for Sep 3 and 4 in Colombo were postponed due to the prevailing situation arising from COVID-19 pandemic.
The foreign secretaries will discuss the new time-frame and modalities of the 5th BIMSTEC Summit and the 17th BIMSTEC Ministerial Meeting.
“If physical summit appears to be difficult under the circumstances, Member States could consider the possibility of holding virtual summit within this year”, said M Shahidul Islam, Secretary General of BIMSTEC, was quoted as saying in the statement.
Sri Lanka is the current Chair of BIMSTEC. With the holding of the 5th BIMSTEC Summit, the chairmanship of the organization will go to Thailand.
The Foreign Secretaries are also expected to recommend a new Secretary General from Bhutan to head the Secretariat for the next three years when the term of the current Secretary General, M. Shahidul Islam, a diplomat from Bangladesh, ends on September 20 this year.