UPSC Current affairs - Growing Bilateral Ties between India & UAE

BIMSTEC meet

Context:

• Sri Lankan President Gotabaya Rajapaksa will host Prime Minister Narendra Modi and other leaders at the summit being held in “hybrid mode” from March 28 to 30.
• Mr. Rajapaksa will chair the session on March 30, with leaders of Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Nepal, and Thailand joining him virtually.
• Myanmar FM to attend BIMSTEC meet, It will be the first time Modi will be at a forum that includes the junta-run State Administrative Council

About BIMSTEC:

• The Bay of Bengal Initiative for Multi-Sectoral Technical and Economic Cooperation (BIMSTEC) is an international organisation of seven South Asian and Southeast Asian nations, housing 1.73 billion people and having a combined gross domestic product of $3.8 trillion (2021).
• The BIMSTEC member states –Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Myanmar, Nepal, Sri Lanka, and Thailand – are among the countries dependent on the Bay of Bengal.
• On 6 June 1997, a new sub-regional grouping was formed in Bangkok under the name BIST-EC (Bangladesh, India, Sri Lanka, and Thailand Economic Cooperation).
• Following the inclusion of Myanmar on 22 December 1997 during a special Ministerial Meeting in Bangkok, the Group was renamed ‘BIMST-EC’ (Bangladesh, India, Myanmar, Sri Lanka and Thailand Economic Cooperation). In 1998, Nepal became an observer.
• In February 2004, Nepal and Bhutan became full members.
• On 31 July 2004, in the first Summit the grouping was renamed as BIMSTEC or the Bay of Bengal Initiative for Multi-Sectoral Technical and Economic Cooperation.

 

Source: THE HINDU.