News: India has attended a Senior Officials Meeting(SOM) of BIMSTEC under the chairmanship of Sri Lanka to discuss ways to deepen cooperation among the member nations and holding of the next summit of the grouping.
Facts:
- Bay of Bengal Initiative for Multi-Sectoral Technical and Economic Cooperation (BIMSTEC): It is a regional organization founded in 1997 through the Bangkok Declaration.
- Aim: To create an enabling environment for economic development; accelerate social progress and promote collaboration on matters of common interest in the region.
- Members: It comprises seven Member States: five deriving from South Asia, including Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Nepal, Sri Lanka, and two from Southeast Asia, including Myanmar and Thailand.
- Headquarters: Dhaka, Bangladesh.
- First Summit: The First Summit Meeting of the Heads of the BIMSTEC Countries was held in Bangkok, Thailand in 2004.
- The Fourth Summit was held in Kathmandu,Nepal in 2018.
