Prime Minister Narendra Modi attended the sixth BIMSTEC Summit meeting in Bangkok, Thailand, on 4th April 2025, where he proposed several initiatives to strengthen the organisation.
The Summit meeting was attended by the leaders of the seven member countries of BIMSTEC (Bay of Bengal Initiative for Multi-Sectoral Technical and Economic Cooperation) - India, Thailand, Myanmar, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Nepal, and Bhutan.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi was on a two-day official visit to Thailand on 3&4th April 2025.
From Thailand, Prime Minister Narendra Modi flew to Sri Lanka on the second leg of his foreign tour. This is his fourth visit to Sri Lanka since he became the Prime Minister in 2014.
While addressing the Summit Meeting, Prime Minister Narendra Modi proposed several initiatives to strengthen the BIMSTEC.
Main initiatives proposed by PM Modi.
Initiative to strengthen people-to-people ties
Thailand hosted the 6th BIMSTEC meeting.
Thailand was hosting the summit meeting for the second time. It hosted the first summit meeting in 2004.
The theme of the 6th meeting was - BIMSTEC: Prosperous, Resilient and Open.
The meeting was chaired by Paetongtarn Shinawatra, Prime Minister of Thailand.
The meeting was attended by the leaders of the member countries- K.P. Sharma Oli, Prime Minister of Nepal; Senior General Min Aung Hlaing, Chairman of the State Administration Council, which rules Myanmar; Tshering Tobgay, Prime Minister of Bhutan; and Muhammad Yunus, Chief Adviser of the interim government of Bangladesh.
Prime Minister Modi met Muhammad Yunus for the first time.
Established as BIST-EC (Bangladesh, India, Sri Lanka, and Thailand Economic Cooperation) in 1997.
Later in 1997, it was renamed BIMSTEC (Bay of Bengal Initiative for Multi-Sectoral Technical and Economic Cooperation) when Myanmar joined it.
Members - India, Bhutan, Nepal, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Thailand, and Myanmar.
Secretariat - Dhaka, Bangladesh
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