Myanmar PM leaves for BIMSTEC summit in India
12/11/2008 17:08
Myanmar Prime Minister General Thein Sein left Nay Pyi Taw this morning
for New Delhi to attend the Second Summit of the Bay of Bengal Initiative for
Multi- Sectoral Technical and Economic Cooperation (BIMSTEC) slated for
tomorrow, according to official sources.
BIMSTEC now comprises seven members
-- Bangladesh, India, Myanmar, Sri Lanka, Thailand, Bhutan and Nepal with the
prior five standing as the original members sharing the Bay of Bengal since its
founding in 1997. Bhutan and Nepal joined in 2004.
The grouping, aimed at
promoting multi-sectoral cooperation for economic and social progress of the
region, has outlined 13 areas of cooperation, namely trade and investment,
technology, energy, transportation and communication, tourism, fisheries,
poverty alleviation, agriculture, cultural cooperation, counter-terrorism and
transnational crime, environment and disaster management, public health and
people-to-people contact.
Out of the 13 sectors of cooperation of the
sub-regional economic grouping, Myanmar shares the duty of the leading country
in the sectors of transportation, communication and agriculture, while
Bangladesh shares the same in trade and investment, India in technology, energy,
counter-terrorism and transnational crime, and environment and disaster
management, Sri Lanka in tourism, Thailand in fisheries and public health,
Bhutan in cultural cooperation and Nepal in poverty alleviation.
Myanmar
joined the BIMSTEC in August 1997 soon after integration into the Association of
Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) in July.
The first summit of the grouping was
held in Bangkok, Thailand in 2004.
Myanmar is reported to take over the
chairmanship of the BIMSTEC from India this year under the rotation system for
the status of the member countries in alphabetical order.
Xinhua
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