BIMSTEC’s Southern and Southeast Asian nations include Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Myanmar, Nepal, Sri Lanka and Thailand. (Photo: Internet) Bangkok (VNA) - Thailand is scheduled to host a retreat of Bay of Bengal Initiative for Multi-sectoral Technical and Economic Cooperation (BIMSTEC) foreign ministers on July 17 , to reinvigorate the 25-year-old intergovernmental organisation.
As the current chair of the BIMSTEC, Thailand expects the retreat will create an opportunity to exchange views on regional issues as well as ways to move the 25-year-old organisation forward.
BIMSTEC’s Southern and Southeast Asian nations include Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Myanmar, Nepal, Sri Lanka and Thailand.
At the last summit, conducted online with Sri Lanka as the previous chair, the status of BIMSTEC had been elevated to an intergovernmental organisation, which enhances its visibility and credibility at the international level.
One of the priorities under the Thai chair is to implement the BIMSTEC Master Plan on Transport Connectivity, proposed by Thailand back in 2018. Now, as the new lead country in connectivity, Thailand can play an ever more prominent role in enhancing inter-regional connectivity.
Furthermore, it will underpin Thailand’s role as a bridge-builder, transport hub and business link between Southeast and South Asia and between the Indian and Pacific oceans.
BIMSTEC is one of the largest intergovernmental cooperation frameworks worldwide in terms of population, size of economy and economic potential. The region has a combined population of nearly 1.8 billion and a combined gross domestic product of 4.4 trillion USD in 2022.
Given the current geopolitical shifts, the BIMSTEC region has more strategic, economic and commercial importance than at any time since its inception in 1997 in Bangkok./.
