DHAKA: 17th BIMSTEC Ministerial Meeting

DHAKA: The External Affairs Minister of India, Dr. S.
Jaishankar, participated in the 17th BIMSTEC Ministerial Meeting on April 1,
2021. The meeting, chaired by Sri Lanka, was held in virtual mode with the
participation of all BIMSTEC Member States.

In his
statement at the meeting, Dr. Jaishankar, reiterated India’s commitment to
further building the momentum of regional cooperation under the BIMSTEC
framework and make the organization stronger, vibrant, more effective and
result-oriented. He highlighted progress achieved in sectors where India is the
Lead Country viz Counter Terrorism & Trans-national Crime, Transport &
Communication, Tourism, and Environmental & Disaster management and other
activities undertaken by India to deepen BIMSTEC cooperation.

The
meeting endorsed the BIMSTEC Master Plan for Transport Connectivity for
adoption at the next BIMSTEC Summit and three MoUs / Agreements for signing at
the next BIMSTEC Summit, namely the BIMSTEC Convention on Mutual Legal
Assistance in Criminal Matters, MoU on Mutual Cooperation between Diplomatic
Academies/Training Institutions of BIMSTEC Member States; and Memorandum of
Association on the Establishment of BIMSTEC Technology Transfer Facility (TTF)
in Colombo, Sri Lanka.

They
encouraged Member States to complete their internal procedures for adoption of
the BIMSTEC Charter and endorsed Rationalization of Sectors and Sub-sectors of
cooperation under the BIMSTEC framework which will be adopted at the next
BIMSTEC Summit.

The
meeting welcomed the proposal of the Chair to hold the Fifth BIMSTEC Summit in
Sri Lanka in next few months in consultation with the Member states.

The
meeting took note that the BIMSTEC Centre for Weather and Climate, being hosted
in India, is fully functional with the state of the art facilities to provide
Disaster Early Warnings.

The
Ministers appreciated the implementation of several initiatives announced by
the Hon’ble Prime Minister of India at the last BIMSTEC Summit, including the
BIMSTEC Startup Conclave in virtual mode in January 2021; Second BIMSTEC
Disaster Management Exercise in Puri in February 2020; Conference on Combating
Drug Trafficking for BIMSTEC countries in February 2020; the BIMSTEC Seminar on
Climate Smart Farming Systems in New Delhi in December 2019; A Capacity
Building Workshop on Risk Informed Urban Planning at Gujarat Institute for
Disaster Management, Gandhinagar in December 2019; the BIMSTEC Military
Exercise and Army Chief’s Conclave 2018 in Pune in Sept 2018; BIMSTEC
Ministerial Conclave at the India Mobile Congress 2018 in New Delhi in October
2018; Training of Diplomats from BIMSTEC countries at the Sushma Swaraj
Institute for Foreign Service, New Delhi in February 2020; training of 24
researchers / professionals from BIMSTEC countries in space and remote sensing
at the North East Space Application Centre, Shillong in January 2020; and
providing 30 Scholarships to students from BIMSTEC countries in the Nalanda
University.