Nepal PM says BIMSTEC summit 'fruitful'

The recently concluded 4th BIMSTEC summit, hosted by Nepal, was "fruitful" in terms of both the decisions taken during the summit and its success, Prime Minister K P Sharma Oli said Tuesday.

The two-day summit, which was attended by Prime Minister Narendra Modi among others, was held on August 30 and 31 in Kathmandu.

The BIMSTEC is a regional grouping comprising India, Bangladesh, Myanmar, Sri Lanka, Thailand, Bhutan and Nepal. The grouping accounts for 22 per cent of the global population, and has a combined gross domestic product of USD 2.8 trillion.

The summit concluded with the seven member states approving an 18-point Kathmandu Declaration that called for identifying and holding accountable States and non-State entities that encourage, support or finance terrorism, provide sanctuaries to terrorists and falsely extol their virtues.

Briefing the Parliament about the summit, Oli said that Nepal's reputation, reliability, ability and prestige have been enhanced after successfully conducting the Bay of Bengal Initiative for Multi-Sectoral Technical and Economic Cooperation (BIMSTEC) summit in Kathmandu.

"It has been seen that Nepal can hold any kind of programme in an organised manner," Oli said, adding that the "summit was effective and largely successful."