Press briefing of Cabinet Decision taken on 2020-12-14

Obtaining approval to adopt the Bay of Bengal Initiative for Multi - Sectoral Technical and Economic Cooperation (BIMSTEC) Charter

- The Bay of Bengal Initiative for Multi - Sectoral Technical and Economic Cooperation (BIMSTEC) was established in the year 1997 as a forum to stimulate corporation in the Bay of Bengal region. The cooperation is comprised of seven (07) countries namely Bangladesh, Bhutan, Nepal, Myanmar, India, Sri Lanka and Thailand. As decided at the Fourth Summit held in Kathmandu in 2018, initiatives have been taken to prepare a draft Charter for the purpose of formulating institutional guidelines for the cooperation and the formulation of the said Charter has been completed at the 21st Session of the Senior Official's Meeting of the BIMSTEC. Accordingly, the proposal made by the Foreign Minister to adopt the said Charter as a member state at the 5th Summit of BIMSTEC scheduled to be held in Sri Lanka in early 2021, was approved by the Cabinet.