Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina yesterday urged BIMSTEC leaders to find out the mentors, masterminds, abettors, financiers, arms suppliers and trainers of terrorists and extremists to defeat terrorism, reports UNB. "We must be prepared to take strong actions against terrorists and their supporters. I firmly believe that within BIMSTEC we should be able to strengthen our cooperation to address terrorism and rise of  violent extremism," she said. Sheikh Hasina was delivering her statement at the BIMSTEC Leaders' Retreat held at the tourist city of Goa.
Chaired by Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, the Retreat was also addressed by leaders of other BIMSTEC countries. In Bangladesh, Sheikh Hasina said, her government has taken a ‘zero-tolerance’ approach to terrorism and violent extremism. "We've also taken massive awareness programmes for the youth, for families, for educational institutions. We’ve succeeded in disintegrating the homegrown terrorists."
Hasina said as she stood there as one of the four founding leaders who had inspired the launching of BIMSTEC way back in 1997 and
during the past 20 years, BIMSTEC has made progress in connecting our two regions.
"Understandably, our progress has been slow, but the groundwork has been done. It’s now time to hasten the process of integration," she added.
Hasina said time has come to seriously  re-look at how BIMSTEC could be made more effective and result-oriented one as well as to draw synergies with other groupings. “While we’ve 14 areas of cooperation under BIMSTEC, I believe we should try to focus more on some key areas like trade and investment, energy, connectivity and counter-terrorism for next five years.
Regular ministerial meetings on the key areas of cooperation are important for building momentum,” she said.
Questioning the commitment of all when she observed that they are yet to finally conclude the BIMSTEC FTA - which was negotiated in 2004, Hasina said, “We need to reiterate our political will in favour of the FTA implementation. “It’ll help enhance our intra-regional trade and will boost the BIMSTEC activities and programmes. We may target to finally adopt the four FTA-related Agreements during the 20th Anniversary of BIMSTEC next year.”
Mentioning that the transport connectivity working group has already met, she expressed her belief that the good work would continue on planning, implementing and monitoring of the prioritized projects, with the active support of the Asian Development Bank (ADB).
Meeting held with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi
Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina held a meeting with her Indian counterpart Narendra Modi and discussed important bilateral and regional issues yesterday evening.
"And capping off a busy day, a final bilateral with the Prime Minister of Bangladesh, Sheikh Hasina," Ministry of External Affairs Spokesperson Vikas Swarup tweeted on the Indian Prime Minister’s meeting.
PM outlines ways for BRICS to engage with BIMSTEC
Delivering her statement at the BRICS and BIMSTEC Outreach at the tourist city of Goa, Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina yesterday outlined three specific ways for BRICS to engage with BIMSTEC and urged the leaders of both the forums to join hands to deal with terrorism and violent extremism to achieve sustainable development through security and stability.
"All our efforts for sustainable development depend on peace, security and stability. As a responsible member of the global community, Bangladesh maintains ‘zero tolerance’ to any act of terrorism or violent extremism. We must join hands to deal with terrorism and violent extremism as well," she said. The Prime Minister was delivering her statement chaired by Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, the meeting was also addressed by other leaders from BRICS and BIMSTEC member states.
The Prime Minister outlined three specific ways for BRICS to engage with BIMSTEC like developing quality and resilient infrastructure, focus on development of science, technology and innovation capabilities and engage in a conversation by BRICS and BIMSTEC to sustain economic progress.
Extending thanks to Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi for his wonderful initiative to bring the leaders of BRICS and BIMSTEC to a single table, Hasina focused on how the leaders of both the groupings  could identify mutual scope as well as synergies for cooperation.
Hasina said a large part of BIMSTEC firstly needs to develop quality and resilient infrastructure as countries like Bangladesh need billions of dollars of investment.
"We're trying to attract investments - through FDI, equity investments or PPP. We're developing a hundred Economic Zones (EZs) across Bangladesh for potential investors. We've also taken initiatives like Hi-Tech City in Kaliakoir, Software Technology Park in Jessore, and Sylhet Electronic City, which are opportunities for hi-tech investors," she added.
Secondly, she said, BIMSTEC region recognises the need to focus on development of science - technology - innovation capabilities as the world is now focused on ‘learning’. Sizable part of our population needs access to technologies in farming, water, sanitation and basic health. "We also need to develop and adopt technologies to address the challenges arising out of climate change,"
The Prime Minister said her government is now focusing on innovative public service delivery, mass access to information, and enhanced transparency and accountability, to build an inclusive, empowered, digital and knowledge-based society.
Thirdly, she said, both BRICS and BIMSTEC can engage in a conversation to sustain our economic development as the global economy moves on. "We need to look at ‘sustainability’ issues with purpose."
In BIMSTEC, the Prime Minister said, the member countries are working on our own regional value chains. "While our countries are at different levels of development, our two groupings can surely join  hands on developing value chains for products and services."
She went on saying, "The potentials in our region are enormous as BIMSTEC region is strategically located at the crossroads of South and South-east Asia."
Referring to the regional hydroelectricity potential of over 300 gigawatts, Hasina said there is also vast marine resources in the Bay of Bengal, which are yet to be fully mapped and tapped.
Earlier, Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina was accorded a red carpet reception when she arrived in Goa yesterday morning to join the BRICS-BIMSTEC Leaders' Outreach Summit.
The two-day summit kicked off in the Indian southwest state, Goa, on Saturday with the theme 'BRICS-BIMSTEC: A Partnership in Opportunities'. It is being organised on the sidelines of BRICS Summit that began on Saturday.
A VVIP flight of Bangladesh Biman carrying the Prime Minister and her entourage landed at Goa Naval Base Airport at 10.15 am (Local time).