BIMSTEC Archives

June 14, 2023

The Secretariat of the Bay of Bengal Initiative for Multi-Sectoral Technical and Economic Cooperation (BIMSTEC) in Dhaka hosted a reception on 06 June 2023 to mark the occasion of the 26th BIMSTEC Day, the anniversary of the signing of the Bangkok Declaration which is the founding document of BIMSTEC, on 06 June 1997.

The Honourable State Minister for Foreign Affairs of Bangladesh H.E. Md. Shahriar Alam graced the occasion as the Chief Guest and was joined by members of the diplomatic corps, officials of the Government of Bangladesh, media personnel, and friends of BIMSTEC.

Welcoming the guests, the Secretary General of BIMSTEC, H.E. Tenzin Lekphell noted recent achievements of BIMSTEC and highlighted opportunities which he urged the BIMSTEC countries to seize and work collectively to uplift the lives of the people of the BIMSTEC region.

Stating that regionalism is an age-old form of collective efforts for development among nations of the same region, the Chief Guest, H.E. Md. Shahriar Alam, stated that Bangladesh is currently home to the Permanent Secretariat of BIMSTEC as a mark of Bangladesh’s commitment to BIMSTEC. Speaking of the enormous potential for growth in the region, the State Minister emphasized the need for collaboration in the interest of shared development and prosperity for the people of the Bay of Bengal region.

March 14, 2023

The 23rd Session of the BIMSTEC Senior Officials’ Meeting was convened virtually from Bangkok on 08 March 2023. As Thailand holds the current chairmanship of the Bay of Bengal Initiative for Multi-Sectoral Technical and Economic Cooperation (BIMSTEC), the Meeting comprising Foreign Secretaries, Secretaries, and Senior Officials of Member States was chaired by the Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Thailand, His Excellency Sarun Charoensuwan.

The Heads of delegation to the Meeting from each Member State briefed the Meeting on progress achieved and work that is being planned in the respective sectors and sub-sectors that they lead as per the reconstituted BIMSTEC sectors of cooperation.

The Meeting endorsed the Rules of Procedure for BIMSTEC mechanisms arising from the BIMSTEC Charter that was adopted during the 5th BIMSTEC Summit that was held virtually in Colombo on 30 March 2022. These include Rules of Procedure for the BIMSTEC core mechanisms (the Summit, Meeting of Foreign Ministers, Meeting of Senior Officials and the BIMSTEC Permanent Working Committee); sectoral mechanisms; and BIMSTEC’s external relations.

Apart from reviewing the Reports of several meetings of BIMSTEC mechanisms that had taken place since the last meeting of the BIMSTEC Senior Officials held in March last year in Colombo, Sri Lanka, the Meeting considered and endorsed the text of the Agreement on Maritime Transport Cooperation which is expected to be signed during the sixth BIMSTEC Summit to be hosted by Thailand later this year; endorsed the Terms of Reference for the Eminent Persons Group on the future directions of BIMSTEC; and endorsed the “Bangkok Vision 2030” which is to be adopted during the sixth Summit.

The respective delegations to the Meeting were headed by: Mr. Masud Bin Momen, Foreign Secretary of Bangladesh; Ms. Tshoki Choden, Officiating Secretary of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and External Trade of Bhutan; Mr. Saurabh Kumar, Secretary (East) of the Ministry of External Affairs of India; Mr. U Win Zeyar Tun, Deputy Director General of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Myanmar; Mr. Bharat Raj Paudyal, Secretary of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Nepal; Ms. Aruni Wijewardane Secretary to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Sri Lanka; and Mr. Sarun Charoensuwan, Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Thailand.

March 13, 2023

The Bay of Bengal Initiative for Multi-Sectoral Technical and Economic Cooperation (BIMSTEC) Secretariat and the International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI) signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) on 05 March 2023 in Dhaka, Bangladesh.

H.E. Tenzin Lekphell, Secretary General of BIMSTEC and Dr. Johan Swinnen, Director General of IFPRI and Managing Director, Systems Transformation, CGIAR, signed the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) on behalf of the respective organizations to formalize the partnership between the BIMSTEC Secretariat and the IFPRI.

The Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) focuses on conducting research and facilitating capacity sharing in order to explore the full agricultural potential of the BIMSTEC region. Through this collaboration, BIMSTEC Secretariat and IFPRI will work together to enhance food security, nutrition, agricultural productivity, and rural development and trade in the region as well as the sustainable and inclusive transformation of food systems.

Acknowledging the untapped trade potential of the BIMSTEC region, Secretary General Lekphell observed that by working with BIMSTEC, IFPRI can leverage its expertise and knowledge to help the region address its challenges more effectively.

Dr. Swinnen, in his remarks said that IFPRI is delighted to engage in this partnership and work with the BIMSTEC Secretariat as well as member countries’ research institutions on capacity sharing initiatives along with outreach and policy communications through cross-country learning and idea exchange.

The ceremony was attended by H.E. Dr. Mashiur Rahman, the Economic Affairs Advisor to the Hon’ble Prime Minister of Bangladesh and as well as Mr. Shabbir Ahmad, the Secretary Bilateral (West) of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Bangladesh. Dr. Purvi Mehta of the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation (BMGF) addressed the event virtually.

The IFPRI is a research-based institute that develops policy solutions to reduce hunger and malnutrition in developing countries. Founded in 1975, IFPRI presently has more than 500 employees operating in over 70 countries and collaborates with a wide range of partners. It is a CGIAR research center, the world’s biggest agricultural innovation network.IFPRI’s regional and country programs play a critical role in responding to the demand for food policy research and in delivering holistic support for country-led development.

March 10, 2023

The Nineteenth BIMSTEC Ministerial Meeting (MM) was held in Bangkok on 09 March 2023 in virtual mode. Delegations from all the Member States of BIMSTEC joined the meeting. Dr. A. K. Abdul Momen, MP, Foreign Minister, led the Bangladesh delegation in the meeting.

In his deliberations, Dr. Momen reiterated Bangladesh’s commitment to the BIMSTEC process and emphasized that BIMSTEC Member States need to work together to realize the huge untapped potentials of the region. As the Lead Country for cooperation in Trade, Investment and Development sector, Dr. Momen outlined Bangladesh’s effort to enhance investment and trade relations across the platform and expressed Bangladesh’s keen interest in finalizing the legal instruments for the BIMSTEC Free Trade Agreement (FTA). He called upon the Member States for greater commitments so that the BIMSTEC FTA could be implemented as early as possible.

The meeting assessed the progress made so far since the Fifth BIMSTEC Summit held on 30 March 2022 including the implementation of various decisions taken during the summit.

The meeting approved the ‘Rules of Procedure’ for all the BIMSTEC mechanisms, including several administrative and financial matters of the BIMSTEC Secretariat for adoption at the Sixth BIMSTEC Summit proposed to be held later this year. The Meeting approved the draft text of the ‘Agreement on Maritime Transport Cooperation’ as well as the ‘BIMSTEC Bangkok Vision 2030’.

The inclusion of Blue Economy, Mountain Economy and Poverty Alleviation under the purview of the reconstituted sectors/subsectors of BIMSTEC cooperation was approved by the meeting. The cooperation in the Blue Economy will be led by Bangladesh.

At the conclusion of the meeting, the Heads of Delegations issued a ‘Joint Statement’ elaborating actions to be taken in different areas of cooperation to promote active collaborations in matters of mutual interests in the economic, social, technical, cultural and scientific fields to build a prosperous, resilient and result oriented BIMSTEC.

The meeting discussed the tentative schedule of the Sixth BIMSTEC Summit to be held in November 2023 in Bangkok, Thailand, in which, Bangladesh is supposed to assume the Chairmanship of BIMSTEC.

December 5, 2017

The Lakshman Kadirgamar Institute of International Relations and Strategic Studies (LKI) and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Sri Lanka will host a dialogue on “BIMSTEC at 20 – Priorities for the Future.” The event will be held on Friday, 8 December 2017 from 4:30 PM to 6:00 PM at the Lighthouse at LKI, 24 Horton Place, Colombo 7.

The keynote address will be delivered by Mrs. Grace Asirwatham, State Secretary at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Sri Lanka. It will be followed by a panel discussion featuring eminent local experts including; Adm. Dr. Jayanath Colombage, Former Commander of the Sri Lanka Navy; Mr. Shiran Fernando, Chief Economist at the Ceylon Chamber of Commerce; Mr. Sumith Nakandala, Former Secretary General of BIMSTEC; Dr. Dushni Weerakoon, Executive Director of the Institute of Policy Studies of Sri Lanka. The discussion will be moderated by Dr. Ganeshan Wignaraja, Chair of LKI’s Global Economy Program.

This event comes at an opportune time as Sri Lanka will take over Chairmanship on the Bay of Bengal Initiative for Multi-Sectoral Technical and Economic Cooperation (BIMSTEC) in 2018. BIMSTEC is a unique regional bloc as it comprises countries of both South Asia and Southeast Asia namely; Bangladesh, India, Myanmar, Sri Lanka, Thailand, Nepal and Bhutan. This event aims to (1) understand the potential of BIMSTEC for advancing regional integration in the Bay of Bengal and (2) identify and discuss key steps Sri Lanka could take to harness the potential of BIMSTEC to reduce trade barriers and improve connectivity between member states. The Global Competitiveness Report 2016-2017 indicates that most countries in South Asia have improved their competitiveness, and show positive economic momentum. Moving forward would require regional integration, which indicates that BIMSTEC could be a foreign policy priority for Sri Lanka.

The keynote speaker, Mrs. Grace Asirwatham, is a senior member of the Sri Lanka Foreign Service (SLFS) and was appointed to the post of State Secretary of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in October 2017. Mrs. Asirwatham has held several senior positions in the Ministry, the most recent being the Additional Secretary for Economic Affairs and Trade, West (Political Affairs), and Middle East and Africa. Previously, she has served as Sri Lanka’s Ambassador to Nepal and The Netherlands and in other positions in Sri Lanka Missions in Germany and Pakistan. Mrs. Asirwatham has also held the post of Deputy Director-General of the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) in The Hague, Netherlands.

LKI is a think tank which analyses Sri Lanka’s international relations and strategic interests, to provide insights and recommendations that advance justice, peace, prosperity and sustainability. It reflects the vision of the late Hon. Lakshman Kadirgamar by promoting the country’s intellectual profile in foreign policy research and engagement. For more information visit www.lki.lk.

26th BIMSTEC Day

The 23rd Session of the BIMSTEC Senior Officials’ Meeting held

MoU signing ceremony between IFPRI and BIMSTEC

The Nineteenth BIMSTEC Ministerial Meeting held

Grace Asirwatham, State Secretary, Ministry of Foreign Affairs to speak on BIMSTEC at LKI