Foreign Minister Abul Hassan Mahmood Ali yesterday urged all members and stakeholders of the Bay of Bengal Initiative for Multi-Sectoral Technical and Economic Cooperation (BIMSTEC) to focus on undertaking more realistic and result-oriented and mutually beneficial projects.
“Let us renew our resolve to turn this regional organisation into a more dynamic, result oriented and effective platform for our future progress and prosperity,” he said while addressing as chief guest a ceremony marking the 20th founding anniversary of the BIMSTEC at its headquarters in the capital.
As a founding member, Bangladesh has always been firmly committed to making the BIMSTEC process more dynamic and strengthening its institutional mechanism, said the minister.
“Establishment of the BIMSTEC Secretariat in 2014 and hosting it in Dhaka is a testimony of Bangladesh’s commitment to strengthen the organisation’s process. We are proud to host the Secretariat of the BIMSTEC in Bangladesh,” he said.
Since the inception of the BIMSTEC, Bangladesh has been cooperating closely with the member states on issues like liberalisation and facilitation of trade, enhancing economic development, strengthening energy cooperation, technology cooperation, increasing connectivity and people-to-people contact, combating terrorism and extremism to achieve collective security, dealing with the adverse effect of climate change, among others, said Ali.
“Twenty years- for a regional organisation is not a long time. The BIMSTEC region, covered partly by South Asia and partly by South East Asia, has enormous resources and potentials to fulfill the ‘aims and purposes’ of the Bangkok Declaration on the Establishment of BIMSTEC. Even then BIMSTEC has achieved some progress during the last 20 years,” he said.
“The countries of South Asia and South East Asian regions are the fastest growing ones in Asia. Over the years, we have seen remarkable economic advancement, social and technological progress,” he added.
In the BIMSTEC Leader’s Retreat and the BRICS- BIMSTEC Outreach Summit in Goa last year, the minister reminded that the BIMSTEC leaders have reiterated their commitment to intensify efforts to realise the objectives and purposes of the organization as outlined in the 1997 Bangkok Declaration, and pledged to work collectively towards making the BIMSTEC a stronger, more effective,
and result oriented organisation.
BIMSTEC secretary general Sumith Nakandala also spoke on the occasion.