KATHMANDU: The 17th session of the BIMSTEC Senior Officials' Meeting (SOM) and its preceding meetings are going to begin here on Sunday.

The preceding meetings include the 7th meeting of BIMSTEC Joint Working Group on the Establishment of BIMSTEC Permanent Secretariat (BIMSTEC-JWG) and the Second Preparatory Meeting to the 17th session of BIMSTEC Senior Officials Meeting (BIMSTEC-PrepSOM).

The BIMSTEC-JWG will meet on Sunday to discuss administrative and financial issues of the BIMSTEC Secretariat and its report will be submitted to the BIMSTEC-PrepSOM to be held on Monday.

The BIMSTEC-PrepSOM is expected to deliberate on reports of various meetings held under BIMSTEC in 2015 and 2016, and will report to the BIMSTEC-SOM, according to a press release issued by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs here today.

Both Meetings will be chaired by Chief of the Regional Organisations Division of the Ministry, Mani Prasad Bhattarai.

Likewise, the BIMSTEC-SOM will meet on Tuesday to review the implementation of various decisions made under BIMSTEC mechanisms and will recommend future courses of action in order to strengthen regional cooperation under BIMSTEC.

Foreign Secretary Shanker Das Bairagi will chair the 17th session of BIMSTEC-SOM as the head of the Nepali delegation.

Other members of the Nepali delegation include officials from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Office of the Prime Minister and Council of Ministers and the Ministry of Finance, adds the release.

Nepal is the current chair of the Bay of Bengal Initiatives for Multi-sectoral, Technical and Economic Cooperation (BIMSTEC).