KATHMANDU, JANUARY 5
Visiting Secretary-general of the Bengal Initiative for Multi-Sectoral Technical and Economic Cooperation Tenzin Lekphell paid a courtesy call on Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba.
In the meeting held at the official residence of the prime minister at Baluwatar today, the two leaders discussed further consolidation of the BIMSTEC process, according to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
Lekphell is currently on a fourday introductory visit to Nepal.
On the occasion, PM Deuba said Nepal would have a creative and meaningful participation in the regional forum and pledged full commitment and constructive support for the BIMSTEC procedures so as to make further advancements.
Deuba also expressed confidence that BIMSTEC would achieve a milestone in the course of realising the aspirations of regional cooperation and further strengthening the BIMSTEC's achievements.
Commending Nepal for its contribution to the BIMSTEC, the secretary-general said the Fourth BIMSTEC Summit held in Kathmandu was a milestone for promotion, good management and institutional development of areas of mutual cooperation. He also applauded Nepal's commitments to the regional economic bloc.
Sri Lanka has proposed to host the BIMSTEC Fifth Summit which has already been delayed by two years due to the COVID-19 crisis.
However, member nations in the BIMSTEC are yet to endorse the proposal.
BIMSTEC is a regional organisation comprising seven members, including Bangladesh, India, Sri Lanka, Thailand, Bhutan, Myanmar and Nepal, while the first four nations are its founding members.
It came into being on 6 June 1997.
A version of this article appears in the print on January 6, 2022, of The Himalayan Times.
