News: The 6th Summit of the member States of BIMSTEC was held 04 April 2025, in Bangkok, Thailand. BIMSTEC Summit, 2025.
Key Takeaways from the BIMSTEC Summit, 2025
- Theme: “BIMSTEC: Prosperous, Resilient and Open”
- Vision Document: The Summit adopted the BIMSTEC Bangkok Vision 2030 document which lays out the road map for the collective prosperity of the region.
India-led initiatives
- India announced setting up of BIMSTEC Centres of Excellence in India on Disaster Management, Sustainable Maritime Transport, Traditional Medicine, and Research and Training in Agriculture.
- BODHI Program: India introduced BODHI Program (BIMSTEC for Organized Development of Human Resource Infrastructure) for skill development, providing training, scholarships, and capacity-building for various professionals across BIMSTEC nations.
- India offered to establish BIMSTEC Chamber of Commerce and to organize BIMSTEC Business Summit every year in India.
- India would be hosting a BIMSTEC Athletics Meet this year and the first BIMSTEC Games in 2027.
About BIMSTEC
- It stands for Bay of Bengal Initiative for Multi-Sectoral Technical and Economic Cooperation (BIMSTEC).
- It is a regional organization that connects South Asia and Southeast Asia, aiming to promote economic cooperation, connectivity, and development in the Bay of Bengal region.
- The Summit is envisaged to be held once in every two year.
- Origin: It was founded on 06 June 1997 with the signing of the Bangkok Declaration.
- Initially comprising 4 members, it was known as BIST-EC (Bangladesh, India, Sri Lanka, and Thailand Economic Cooperation).
- In 1997, Myanmar joined and the grouping was renamed BIMST-EC.
- With the inclusion of Nepal and Bhutan in 2004, the name was further changed to BIMSTEC.
- Member countries: It has 7 member states which are Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Myanmar, Nepal, Sri Lanka, and Thailand.
- Secretariat: The permanent secretariat is in Dhaka, Bangladesh.
