New Delhi, March 30: Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Wednesday underscored the importance of an enhanced regional connectivity, cooperation and security among the BIMSTEC countries.
Modi participated in the fifth Bay of Bengal Initiative for Multi-Sectoral Technical and Economic Cooperation (BIMSTEC) Summit hosted in virtual mode by Sri Lanka, the current chair of BIMSTEC.
Prior to the 5th BIMSTEC Summit, preparatory meetings at the senior official and foreign minister levels were held in Colombo on March 28-29 in the hybrid mode.
The Summit’s theme ‘Towards a Resilient Region, Prosperous Economies, Healthy People’ captures the main current priorities of the member states, and the efforts by the BIMSTEC to develop cooperation activities that support member states’ programmes to deal with the economic and development consequences of the Covid-19 pandemic.
The main outcome of the Summit was the adoption and signing of the BIMSTEC Charter, which formalises the grouping into an organisation made up of member states that are littoral to, and dependent upon, the Bay of Bengal.
The Summit also saw considerable progress being achieved in the BIMSTEC connectivity agenda with the adoption of the ‘Master Plan for Transport Connectivity’ by Leaders which lays out a guidance framework for connectivity related activities in the region in the future.
Modi along with other leaders also witnessed the signing of three BIMSTEC agreements which represent progress being achieved in ongoing cooperation activities.
The agreement signed are BIMSTEC Convention on Mutual Legal Assistance in Criminal Matters, BIMSTEC Memorandum of Understanding on Mutual Cooperation in the field of Diplomatic Training and Memorandum of Association on Establishment of BIMSTEC Technology Transfer Facility.