KATHMANDU, April 1: Nepal has called for taking concerted efforts to make Bay of Bengal Initiative for Multi-Sectoral Technical and Economic Cooperation (BIMSTEC) as an effective organization through deeper cooperation among member states for the progress and prosperity of people living in the region.

Foreign Secretary Bharat Raj Paudyal, who led the Nepali delegation to the Special Session of Senior Officials' Meeting (SOM) of the sub-regional body held virtually on Wednesday, made the call for further promoting cooperation among BIMSTEC member states. 

The Meeting was hosted by Sri Lanka, the current Chair of the BIMSTEC. 

Delivering his remarks, Foreign Secretary Paudyal also made an assessment of progress made by the BIMSTEC in implementing the decisions of the 4thBIMSTEC Summit held in Kathmandu in August 2018 and other high-level meetings following the Summit, according to Ministry of Foreign Affairs(MoFA). 

The Special SOM Session touched upon a range of pertinent matters of the organization such as norm setting and institutional building, streamlining of the sectors and sub-sectors of cooperation under BIMSTEC, finalizing of the legal instruments and documents including the BIMSTEC Charter, BIMSTEC Master Plan for Connectivity, and revising of budget of the BIMSTEC Secretariat for FY 2020 and estimated budget for FY 2021. 

The meeting also made deliberations on preparation for the 17thBIMSTEC Ministerial Meeting and finalized draft text of Joint Statement of the Ministerial Meeting to be held virtually tomorrow, 01 April 2021.

Nepali delegation included Senior Officials of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs; Ministry of Finance; Ministry of Law, Justice and Parliamentary Affairs; Ministry of Culture, Tourism and Civil Aviation;Ministry of Industry, Commerce and Supplies; and, Ministry of Physical Infrastructure and Transport. 

 
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