New Delhi: Secretary East in the Ministry of External Affairs, ambassador Saurabh Kumar on Tuesday held productive discussions with visiting BIMSTEC Secretary General Tenzin Lekphell in New Delhi. He reiterated India's commitment to strengthening BIMSTEC, which is a vital block of Act East and Neighbourhood First policies and integral to India's Indo-Pacific vision.
This comes as India has been making concerted efforts to make BIMSTEC a vibrant forum for regional cooperation as initiatives under SAARC (South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation) were not moving forward for a variety of reasons.
BIMSTEC Secretary General Tenzin Lekphell is on an official visit to India from 22-25 August at the invitation of Saurabh Kumar, Secretary. The BIMSTEC chief recieved a warm welcome on his arrival in New Delhi on Monday.
At the 5th BIMSTEC Summit held in Sri Lanka (30 March 2022), Leaders of the 7 BIMSTEC member states (Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Myanmar, Nepal, Sri Lanka, and Thailand) adopted the BIMSTEC Charter thereby confirming the transition of this grouping of states, littoral to or dependent upon the Bay of Bengal, into a full-fledged regional organization with a distinct international personality.
India had stressed the importance of rapidly consolidating this newly created regional organization, and moving BIMSTEC cooperation to the next level. India leads the Security cooperation pillar on the BIMSTEC platform that includes Disaster Management, Marine Cooperation, and Energy Security, all of which are vital for the attainment of SDG targets in the region.
