In what will possibly be Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's final visit abroad as the head of government, he is expected to travel to Burma early in February to participate in the third Bimstec Summit.
The Bimstec (Bay of Bengal Initiative for Multi-sectoral Technical and Economic Cooperation) meet at the heads of government level is being held after a gap of six years. The Summit will be held on March 3rd and 4th in Burma as it is the Chair of the sub-regional grouping.
Bimstec has been able to hold only two Summit-level meetings so far, in 2004 in Bangkok when Thailand chaired the seven-member sub-regional grouping and in 2008 in New Delhi when India was the Chair.
Elections, national catastrophes and scheduling issues prevented the holding of Summits in subsequent years. Now, however, all the seven member-countries — Bangladesh, India, Burma, Sri Lanka, Thailand, Nepal and Bhutan — have confirmed their participation in the forthcoming Summit.
However, the organisers will be keeping their fingers crosses as far as Thailand's participation is concerned given the current political turmoil in the country. Among the sectors to be covered by the MoUs that have been finalised are energy, agriculture and tourism. Another MoU to be inked will enable the setting up of the grouping's secretariat in Bangladesh.
The sub-regional grouping is seen as an important initiative that links countries of south Asia to those of south east Asia with a focus on 13 priority sectors, among them trade and investment, energy, transport and communication, poverty alleviation and technology.
Source: http://www.news.myanmaronlinecentre.com/2014/01/31/pm-to-attend-bimstec-in-burma/
No comments:
Post a Comment