BIMSTEC Established: | June 6, 1997 |
BIMSTEC Members: | 7 Members |
BIMSTEC Headquarters: | Dhaka, Bangladesh. |
Secretary-General: | M. Shahidul Islam (Bangladesh) |
BIMSTEC Region: | Bay of Bengal |
The BIMSTEC is a South-Asian regional intergovernmental organization, works for economic development in the region. The BIMSTEC is an acronym of the Bay of Bengal Initiative for Multi-Sectoral Technical and Economic Cooperation. The BIMSTEC countries comprise about 1.5 billion people and $3.5 trillion GDP.
The BIMSTEC came into existence on June 6, 1997, through the Bangkok Declaration. Initially, this group was formed with four-member states Bangladesh, India, Sri-Lanka, and Thailand. The name of the group was Bangladesh, India, Sri-Lanka, and Thailand Economic Cooperation.
On December 22, 1997, Myanmar Joined this group and the group was renamed Bangladesh, India, Myanmar, Sri-Lanka, and Thailand Economic Cooperation.
In February 2004, Nepal and Bhutan joined this group, and the group was renamed BIMSTEC (Bay of Bengal Initiative for Multi-Sectoral Technical and Economic Cooperation).
Currently, BIMSTEC comprising seven member states as listed below.
Bangladesh | India |
Sri-Lanka | Nepal |
Myanmar | Bhutan |
Thailand |
The main objectives of the BIMSTEC are to cooperate in the field of Trade, Technology, Energy, Transport, Tourism, and Fisheries. It also expanded the cooperation in the field of Agriculture, Public Health, Poverty Alleviation, Counter-Terrorism, Environment, Culture, People to People contact, and Climate Change.
The headquarters of the BIMSTEC was set up in Dhaka, Bangladesh on 13 September 2014.
The chairmanship rotates among the member countries in alphabetical order according to the first alphabet of country names.
The BIMSTEC summit time is not fixed, however till now in every 4 years one high-level summit held. The head of states of the member countries meet at this summit and discuss the policies and make the roadmap for future development.
India is an active member of this forum and also one of the founding members of BIMSTEC.