KATHMANDU, March 30: The 5th Summit of the Bay of Bengal Initiative for Multi-Sectoral Technical and Economic Cooperation (BIMSTEC) has endorsed its charter. 

The summit kicked off in Sri Lanka today. The member countries signed the charter virtually for its endorsement. Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba signed the charter on behalf of Nepal.

The summit has also approved three new documents. Minister for Foreign Affairs Dr Narayan Khadka, on the behalf of the Government of Nepal, signed the 'BIMSTEC Convention on Mutual Legal Assistance in Criminal Matters' and the 'Affiliation Letter on Establishment of Technology Transfer Center in Colombo', according to the Nepali Embassy in Sri Lanka. 

Similarly, joint-secretary of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Ghanashyam Bhandari signed an MoU relating to mutual cooperation among the BIMSTEC-member countries' diplomatic institutions and training academies. 

The 4th BIMSTEC summit held in Kathmandu some three years ago had called for a charter to make BIMSTEC further stronger, restructuring of the organization and laying the foundation stone for further strengthening the BIMSTEC secretariat among others.

 
• BIMSTEC
 
• Nepal