BIMSTEC summit to focus on connectivity, poverty alleviation

The fourth BIMSTEC Summit will be held in Kathmandu from August 30-31, the Nepal government said today.

Sub-regional connectivity and poverty alleviation will be top of the agenda during the two-day BIMSTEC (Bay of Bengal Initiative for Multilateral Technical and Economic Cooperation) Summit, Nepal Foreign Minister Pradeep Kumar Gyawali said.

Gyawali said that main focus of the summit will be to increase connectivity among the BIMSTEC nations that would include roads, airways and transmission lines.

Some concrete steps will also be taken for poverty alleviation among the member countries, he said.

BIMSTEC is a regional economic bloc comprising seven member states lying in the littoral and adjacent areas of the Bay of Bengal constituting a contiguous regional unity.

The group formed in 1997 consists of Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Nepal, Sri Lanka, Myanmar and Thailand. Nepal is the current chair of BIMSTEC.