By IRNA,
New Delhi : The meeting of the Foreign Ministers of BIMSTEC (Bay of Bengal Initiative for Multi-Sectoral Technical and Economic Cooperation) is in progress in New Delhi to finalize the agenda for summit talks on Thursday.
The one-day second summit, to be attended by Prime Minister, Dr. Manmohan Singh and leaders from India, Nepal, Bangladesh, Myanmar, Sri Lanka, Bhutan and Thailand, is expected to focus on forging closer integration of the member countries that spread across South Asia and East Asia.
Issues relating to trade, combating terrorism, connectivity energy and tourism will be high on the agenda.
The BIMSTEC Foreign Ministers had earlier met in August to lay the ground work for the summit.
Bay of Bengal Initiative for Multi-Sectoral Technical and Economic Cooperation (BIMSTEC) is an international organisation involving a group of countries in South Asia and South East Asia. The member countries of this group are: Bangladesh, India, Myanmar, Sri Lanka, Thailand, Bhutan and Nepal.
BIMSTEC was initiated with the goal to combine the ‘Look West’ policy of Thailand and ASEAN with the ‘Look East’ policy of India and South Asia. So it could be explained that BIMSTEC is a link between ASEAN and SARRC.
Seven members of BIMSTEC covers 13 Priority Sectors led by member countries in a voluntary manner namely, Trade & Investment, Technology, Energy, Transport & Communication, Tourism, Fisheries, Agriculture, Cultural Cooperation, Environment and Disaster Management, Public Health, People-to-People Contract, Poverty Alleviation and Counter-Terrorism and Transnational Crimes.