Prime Minister Sushil Koirala is leaving for Myanmar on Sunday leading a Nepali delegation to the Third BIMSTEC Summit being held in Nay Pyi Taw, on 4 March.
BIMSTEC (Bay of Bengal Initiative for Multi-Sectoral Technical and Economic Cooperation ) is an international organisation comprising of seven South Asia and South East Asia that includes Bangladesh, India, Myanmar, Sri Lanka, Thailand, Bhutan and Nepal
The delegation includes the Foreign Minister, the Foreign Policy Advisor to the Prime Minister, Officiating Foreign Secretary and other senior officials of the government.
The summit will deliberate on the various issues relating to the 14 priority areas identified under BIMSTEC cooperation, which include trade and investment, energy, poverty alleviation, transport and infrastructure, agriculture etc and will make some key decisions towards making egional cooperation and collaboration more effective and productive.
It is stated that during the summit, three agreements regarding the establishment of the BIMSTEC Permanent Secretariat, Centre for Weather and Climate, and Cultural Industries Commission and BIMSTEC Cultural Industries Observatory will be signed by the Foreign /External Affairs Ministers in presence of the Head of State/Governments. The summit will also endorse the nomination of Sumith Nakandala as the first Secretary General of the BIMSTEC Permanent Secretariat to be established in Dhaka, Bangladesh.
The Prime Minister is also scheduled to meet with his counterparts from BIMSTEC member countries and the opposition leader of Myanmar, Daw Aung San Suu Kyi.
A delegation led by the Foreign Minister will take part in the 14th BIMSTEC ministerial meeting to be held on 3 March. Nepal will assume the Chairmanship of BIMSTEC following the Third Summit.