Hasan Mahmud to join BIMSTEC FM-level meeting in New Delhi

Foreign Minister Hasan Mahmud is scheduled to visit New Delhi, India directly from Beijing on July 11 to attend the BIMSTEC Foreign Ministers meeting.

India will host the meeting as preparations underway for the next summit to be held in Thailand this year. 

Foreign Ministers of the BIMSTEC Member States will join the meeting. 

Hasan will accompany Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina during her official visit to China from July 8-10.

"The foreign minister will go to New Delhi on July 11 from Beijing," a senior official at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs told UNB on Thursday. 

He is likely to return home on July 12 and there is a possibility to hold meetings with his counterparts on the sidelines of the BIMSTEC FM-level meeting, said the official. 

On 17 July 2023, Thailand hosted the inaugural BIMSTEC Foreign Ministers' Retreat in Bangkok, in which the seven BIMSTEC members expressed their renewed resolve to build a stronger, more resilient, and more relevant grouping. 

Secretary General of the Bay of Bengal Initiative for Multi-Sectoral Technical and Economic Cooperation (BIMSTEC) Indra Mani Pandey has said a date has been proposed for the next Summit in Bangkok, Thailand later this year, awaiting approval from the member states.

"The date for the 6th BIMSTEC Summit will formally be announced soon. It will have some significant outcomes. It will set a direction for the future of the BIMSTEC," he told members of the Diplomatic Correspondents Association, Bangladesh (DCAB) at its Secretariat recently. 

The BIMSTEC Secretary General hoped the upcoming Summit would add new vigour to regional cooperation within BIMSTEC.

"I believe BIMSTEC has a bright future. All the members are truly committed to make sure BIMSTEC becomes a success story," he said while making a presentation on BIMSTEC activities.

The summit will adopt a Bangkok Vision 2030 which would be an overarching kind of document and give direction to the organisation, he said, adding that it would be one of the significant outcomes.