BIMSTEC Discusses Post-COVID Cooperation Next Month

BIMSTEC is set to discuss its post-COVID-19 cooperation in Colombo, Sri Lanka, at the beginning of next month.

The discussion will virtually occur at the 21st session of the BIMSTEC Senior Officers' Meeting (SOM) of Foreign Secretaries of the BIMSTEC Member States on 2 September, according to the BIMSTEC press release.

It will cover the role of BIMSTEC in post-COVID-19 recovery and reconstruction, with a focus on poverty alleviation, food security, and uninterrupted economic and physical connectivity in the country.

Many significant agreements and papers, including the BIMSTEC Charter, envisaged to be signed or initiated at the Fifth BIMSTEC Summit, would also be concluded at the conference.

The Fifth BIMSTEC Summit and the Seventeenth BIMSTEC Ministerial Meeting scheduled for 3-04 September in Colombo were postponed owing to the current condition resulting from the Covid-19 pandemic.

The foreign secretaries would also address the current timetable and modalities of the Fifth BIMSTEC Summit and the 17th BIMSTEC Ministerial Conference.

“If physical summit appears to be difficult under the circumstances, Member States could consider the possibility of holding virtual summit within this year”, said M Shahidul Islam, secretary general of BIMSTEC.

Sri Lanka is currently chairing the seven-nation group comprising Afghanistan, Bhutan, India, Myanmar, Nepal, Sri Lanka, and Thailand.

For the Fifth BIMSTEC Meeting, the chairmanship of the group will move to Thailand.

The foreign secretaries are also expected to recommend a new secretary-general from Bhutan to head the Dhaka-based BIMSTEC Secretariat for the next three years when the term of the current Secretary-General M. Shahidul Islam, a diplomat from Bangladesh, ends on 20 September.