Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli confirmed this in his recent address to Nepali Parliament, couple of days after the BIMSTEC 2018 concluded in Kathmandu.

Addressing the Parliament, PM Oli said the Summit has boosted Nepal’s reputation & abilities while also enhancing the level of reliability of the nation.

“It has been seen that Nepal can hold any kind of program in an organized manner. The Summit was effective and largely successful as it was organized with caution and without any mistake,” read Oli’s statement.

Citing the BIMSTEC 2018 highlights, Oli informed that the event has resulted in a common conclusion with proper direction for all BIMSTEC member states.

He further informed that the Summit formed an effective platform for discussions among heads of the states and governments of the member nations on ways to achieve enhanced bilateral cooperation and fulfil regional interests.

Oli said that the Summit focused on cooperation in core sectors: Tourism & connectivity, energy, power and trade & investment.

The 18-point Declaration also paid high regard to Nepal lauding the Government of Nepal’s efforts in making the BIMSTEC Summit a grand success!

As part of the Summit, the member states agreed upon the 18-point Kathmandu Declaration, which includes:

1. Reviewing of the principles agreed upon in the 1997 Bangkok Declaration and reconsidering peaceful co-existence, political independence, non-interference in internal affairs, sovereign equality, territorial integrity and mutual benefit as key to BIMSTEC cooperation
2. Expediting action on the BIMSTEC objectives as embodied in the 1997 Bangkok Declaration and work towards strengthening BIMSTEC as more of an implementation-oriented organization
3. Enhancing BIMSTEC’s capabilities as a bridge between South and Southeast Asia for socio-economic development and peace & prosperity in the region
4. Reiteration to combat terrorism in all forms such as curbing organizations/state & non-state entities/networks funding terrorism, blocking recruitment to terrorism, cross-border movement of terrorists, stopping radicalization and dismantling terrorist hubs, among others through a country-country collaboration and a comprehensive approach
5. Continuing commitment to the core principles and agendas of the Charter of the United Nations and collaborate in all possible forms that can strengthen the multilateral system in addressing the contemporary challenges, globally
6. Decision to form the BIMSTEC Permanent Working Committee (BPWC), which will take care of administrative and financial tasks of the BIMSTEC Secretariat, Centers and Entities, organizational activities and programs, etc.
7. As part of institutional reforms, preparing a preliminary draft of the BIMSTEC Charter, defining a long-term cooperation in cooperation and addressing priorities, delineating roles and responsibilities of different layers within the BIMSTEC structure and decision-making process for approval from BPWC (making it ready-to-adopt by the 5^th BIMSTEC Summit) and develop Rules of Procedure for BIMSTEC mechanisms
8. Direct respective BIMSTEC member countries and heads of the states to explore the possibility of forming the BIMSTEC Development Fund (BDF) with voluntary contribution from the member states, which will be utilized for research & planning, financing and other aspects of BIMSTEC as agreed upon among the member states
9. Enhancing the institutional capabilities of BIMSTEC Secretariat by adding more Human Resources (HR) to support the organizational activities from initializing to implementing any proposals and projects, increase the number of Directors from one to seven covering all the member states on a step-by-step manner
10. Widening BIMSTEC scope at the international level by way of forging common positions on issues of common interest globally and seeking due recognition across the existing global multilateral players
11. Emphasizing on the need for further progress, review, restructure and rationalize core areas of BIMSTEC cooperation and welcoming Thailand’s concept paper on the Reprioritization of BIMSTEC Pillars of Cooperation towards streamlining BIMSTEC principles to five key pillars
12. Prioritizing legal documents and instruments that need approvals internally for finalization and ratification
13. Lauding the role of the lead countries of the group and encouraging them for further progress
14. Appreciating the former Secretary-General Mr. Sumith Nakandala’s contribution to BIMSTEC and welcoming the appointment of Mr. M. Shahidul Islam of Bangladesh as the new BIMSTEC Secretary General
15. Conveying deep appreciation to Nepal for its abilities in handling full responsibility of BIMSTEC operations since March 2014 and welcome Sri Lanka as the new Chair
16. Reiterating commitment to timely holding of the Summit and other meetings under the BIMSTEC mechanism for enhanced regional cooperation
17. Deciding on making commitments and statements of members’ positions on sectoral review expressed at the Annexure as part of this Declaration
18. Sincere appreciation to the Government of Nepal for its warm hospitality and efficient way in hosing the Summit

Now, it’s time to wait and watch the way implementation progresses. All the Best BIMSTEC! The 5th BIMSTEC Summit is going to take place in Sri Lanka.

Also Read:

• Fourth BIMSTEC Summit : Nepal All Set, Delegates Arriving In!
• Nepal Gears up for 4th BIMSTEC Summit
• 4th BIMSTEC 2018 Summit Concludes with Declaration

The post BIMSTEC 2018: Nepal’s Mission Accomplished, Now its Lanka’s Turn! appeared first on Nepali Sansar.

Months-long preparations and bilateral discussions between Asian powers are finally bringing to us the 4^th BIMSTEC Summit that will see Asian powers coming together to discuss on key areas pertaining to regional cooperation.

And it’s Nepal, the landlocked country adjacent to two Asian giants with high geographical presence, that is holding the Summit.

The BIMSTEC 2018 Summit, to be held during August 30-31, 2018, is going to see high-level ministers and foreign secretary-level dignitaries from the seven BIMSTEC member countries from South and Southeast Asia: Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Nepal, Sri Lanka, Myanmar and Thailand.

In view of the BIMSTEC 2018 Summit, let’s take a look at how BIMSTEC can impact Asia and Nepal geopolitics.

BIMSTEC & Significance
The Bay of Bengal Initiative for Multi-Sectoral Technical and Economic Cooperation (BIMSTEC) Group is a combination of seven member: Bangladesh, India, Myanmar, Sri Lanka, Thailand, Bhutan and Nepal.

As a home to nearly 22 percent of the world population and a USD 2.7 trillion combined GDP strength, the BIMSTEC group has been into existence since more than 20 years.

Despite its long history, the organization saw the establishment of its Secretariat only in 2014 and is still awaiting institutional legitimacy.

The group has been in dire need for an effective institutional mechanism that can empower its activities in key areas of cooperation such as poverty alleviation, trade & investment, climate change, connectivity and security.

Changing geopolitics across the world, mostly in developed countries, and a drastic shift in world focus to Asian region is the key aspect that lays strong foundation for organizations like SAARC and BIMSTEC.

Though EU has been a flagship initiative towards enhancing regional cooperation, the Brexit gave a big hit to the region triggering alerts on strategies pertaining to regional cooperation, not just in the region but across the world.

In view of many such global scenarios from past to present and high geographical presence since centuries make Asia the most-sought region, and this moved Asian powers to keep up their strengths in order to play more significant role in the world’s make-over.

BIMSTEC 2018 is one in that direction!

BIMSTEC aspires to be a collaborative platform addressing key concerning areas such as terrorism, poverty, human rights, among others pertaining to Asian region and bring in a new form of regional cooperation and connectivity for overall development.

Let’s hope the BIMSTEC 2018 will help the region stand in line with the global principles pertaining to role of regional cooperation in meeting UN goals, with regional cooperation being a building block.

And, Nepal as a country with rapid pace of growth in the recent past has got a great opportunity in the form of BIMSTEC 2018 to prove its significance in the Asian region and also for local development that followed a long-awaited political struggle.

Also Read:

• Nepal Gears up for 4th BIMSTEC Summit
• BIMSTEC Summit 2018: 16th BIMSTEC Ministerial Meet Kicks Off!
• Fourth BIMSTEC Summit : Nepal All Set, Delegates Arriving In!
• Foreign Secretaries Meet to Discuss Fourth BIMSTEC Plans

The post How BIMSTEC 2018 Can Impact Asian, Nepal Geopolitics? appeared first on Nepali Sansar.

As the reports say, the higher officials’ meeting was part of preparations for the upcoming two-day BIMSTEC summit scheduled for August 30-31, 2018.

The meeting, headed by Secretary at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Shanker Das Bairagi, saw senior officials from the Ministries of Foreign/External Affairs of the BIMSTEC member nations.

The meeting is focused on preparations for the BIMSTEC Summit, says Bairagi.

During the meeting, the officials focused on 14 areas of priorities including energy, tourism, trade & investment, transport & communications, agriculture & poverty alleviation, counter-terrorism, public health & environment and natural disaster & climate change set by the member states.

Nepal PM’s Address on BIMSTEC 2018
Ahead of the ministerial meeting on the side-lines of BIMSTEC 2018, the Prime Minister of Nepal KP Sharma Oli made some key announcements about the Summit on August 28, 2018.

In his address to the Parliament, Oli informed lawmakers and other parliamentarians about the government-level preparations and agendas of the BIMSTEC Summit.

Stating that the Summit is being held under the theme ‘Towards Peaceful, Prosperous and Sustainable Bay of Bengal Region, Oli said the BIMSTEC 2018 will enhance economic cooperation and connectivity in key areas such as energy and transportation including railways and airways, among others.

Oli informed that the 2018 edition of BIMSTEC Summit has integrated two additional priority sectors—Blue Economy and Mountain Economy—to the existing 14 key areas that BIMSTEC already has in its list.

PM said the issues pertaining to trade, environment, connectivity and campaigns against organized crime will top the list of agendas in BIMSTEC 2018 meeting, which will also see the members agreeing upon a BIMSTEC Charter to address the same.

Oli expressed hope that the Summit will help Nepal in boosting its ties with neighbors & beyond, and also coordinate with world nations to fight poverty.

Visiting heads of various governments and BIMSTEC member nations will also hold meetings with President Bidya Devi Bhandari as part of their visit to BIMSTEC 2018, Oli added.

As Oli says, this is the first such meeting being organized after the formation of the new government post successful completion of the long-awaited three-tier elections.

“Though BIMSTEC should be held every two years, we are holding the meet for the fourth time, albeit it has been 20 years since BIMSTEC was established. We started preparations for the BIMSTEC meet after the formation of new government,” Oli told the Parliament.

The first BIMSTEC meet was held in Thailand in 1997, followed by the next one in India in 2008 and lastly in Myanmar in 2014.

Other Member Nations on BIMSTEC
According to the Indian External Foreign Affairs Ministry, BIMSTEC 2018 will also focus on counter- terrorism, enhancing regional connectivity and trade.

They feel that a push for Free Trade Agreement (FTA) and regional connectivity will have a major role to play in the Summit.

We regard BIMSTEC as gateway to seas of littoral states as well as access for two land-locked member countries Bhutan and Nepal. For India, BIMSTEC is a natural choice to fulfil our key foreign policy priorities of neighbourhood first and act east policy, says Preeti Saran, Secretary East in Ministry of External Affairs (MEA).

As the reports say, members are little dissatisfied about the pace of progress pertaining to FTA.

Heads of Missions of the BIMSTEC member states have reportedly raised concerns over the same at a recently-held Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FICCI) seminar last week, stating that the BIMSTEC-FTA has not been concluded even after the framework finalization that happened 13 years ago.

“We need to find a way to deal with emerging powers in Indo-Pacific and regional groupings to provide strength in numbers. So, multilateralism is important. BIMSTEC and ASEAN can be part of Indo-Pacific regional architecture,” reads a statement by Chutintorn Gongsakdi, Ambassador of Thailand, reportedly made at a recent interaction on August 25, 2018.

The Government of Nepal has been high on preparations for the BIMSTEC Summit 2018 with tight intelligence and security measures. Let’s take a look:

High Security Measures for BIMSTEC 2018
As part of its security measures, the government is also deploying around 30,000 security forces to safeguard the BIMSTEC Summit.

The special forces include officials from the National Intelligence Department along with 8000 personnel from Nepali Army, 13,000 from Nepali Police and 6,000 Armed Police Force.
Security and transport sub-committee headed by the Home Ministry is working on detailed security plan in coordination with security forces.

On the other hand, special forces have already beefed up their security measures and vigilance check-ups across moving transport, border areas, Tribhuvan International Airport and major hotel stays.
The government is also preparing to declare no-fly-zone over the stays where the arriving foreign delegates would be residing at, a day ahead of the Summit.

“We are also conducting a threat analysis of VIPs. The Nepal Police, in close coordination with their counterparts of the participating nations, has taken a detailed account of the leaders’ activities in the last six months,” informed an official part of the security planning.

The government is also keeping a close watch on air traffic movement at the Tribhuvan International Airport (TIA) beginning from August 29, 2018, in view of the VVIP arrivals for the Summit.

As traffic movement is expected to be affected, we are well prepared to keep the airport open 24 hours for two consecutive days if airlines ask us to do so,” informed Raj Kumar Chettri, General Manager of TIA. 

Chettri informed that the airport has already issued notices to the carriers about the VVIP movement.

According to TIA, the flight movement will be severely affected on August 30, 2018 due to the arrivals of the Heads of States from India, Bangladesh and Thailand.

“We are yet to confirm the date and time of the departure of the VVIPs. “We have aimed to process the first flights from 6am. Starting an hour early will ease traffic congestion to some extent, adds Chettri, who feels that that the impact could continue till September 01, 2018.

As part of health-related support, the government also formed the ‘Health Emergency and Disaster Management Unit’ that has a 11-member committee headed by the Ministry of Health & Population (MoHP) Secretary Dr Pushpa Chaudhary.

The country’s renowned Bir Hospital, in coordination with other local hospitals, has also set up temporary health camps along with Onsite Logistic Ambulance (OLA) on standby.

As part of safety and security measures, Nepal Government is also strengthening logistics and other aspects of management.

Overall, the government has reportedly invested around Rs 916,150 as part of health security procedures for the Summit and has also commanded 78 satellite hospitals to address emergency health issues.

Other Preparations

Meanwhile, the Government of Nepal has also made key announcements as part of its preparations for the BIMSTEC Summit 2018.

As the reports say, the government has reportedly asked the country’s top VIPs to handover their vehicles to assist the government in facilitating the safe and secure movement for the heads of different states during their visit to the country for the 4^th BIMSTEC Summit.

The list of VIPs includes Office of the President, the Office of the Prime Minister, Speaker of the Federal Parliament and National Assembly, Chief Justice, Ministers and Secretaries among others.

The government is also keen on buying private vehicles to suffice the requirements.

“We decided to make use of our own resources as such vehicles are expensive and will not be used frequently once the summit ends. Some of the vehicles are already being colored. Tinted glasses are being fit in all vehicles,” said an official.

Meanwhile, Indian Government has also stepped up its support to Nepal in its preparations for BIMSTEC Summit.

India lent three highly-sophisticated, fully-armoured cars to Nepal to be used for the heads of the states coming for Summit on August 30-31, 2018.

The Indian Aircraft C-17 on August 25, 2018 brought three BMW bulletproof cars from New Delhi to Kathmandu, which the Nepal Government will return post the Summit.

Following this, another Indian Aircraft IL-76 MD an additional armored vehicle to Kathmandu to be used for Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi during his BIMSTEC visit.

The government has already fixed on some high-end vehicles, currently being used by Nepali ministers and other officials, for the visiting foreign ministers and secretaries. The special arrangements also include nine Mercedes Benz cars gifted by Qatar in 2016.

Learning from the past experiences from the past conferences, Nepal is planning big for this summit with a full-fledged assessment and security deployment, along with intelligence, emergency evacuation and action plan.

Prime Minister of India Narendra Modi, President of Sri Lanka Maithripala Sirisena, Prime Minister of Bhutan Tshering Tobgay, Prime Minister of Bangladesh Sheikh Hasina, Prime Minister of Thailand Prayut Chan-o-Cha and President of Myanmar Win Myint are among key dignitaries attending the BIMSTEC Summit in Nepal.

BIMSTEC body, formed two years ago, acts as a sub-regional body with key focus on enhancing economic & technical cooperation among the southern and Southeast countries of Asia along the Bay of Bengal coast.

  Towards a stronger BIMSTEC         BIMSTEC Energy Outlook 2030

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The 16^th ministerial meeting of the Bay of Bengal Initiative for Multi-Sectoral Technical and Economic Cooperation (BIMSTEC) began in Kathmandu on August 29, 2018.

The two-day 4^th BIMSTEC Summit, during August 30-31, 2018, is hosting dignitaries from the BIMSTEC member-countries such as India, Myanmar, Bangladesh, Bhutan, Nepal, Sri Lanka and Thailand.

Chaired by the Nepali Foreign Affairs Minister Pradeep Kumar Gyawali, the first meeting of the BIMSTEC 2018 today is set to see statements by the Foreign/External Affairs Ministers of the BIMSTEC member countries.

The meeting will also see special presentations including the one by BIMSTEC Secretary General and other reports of the Special and 19th Senior Officials’ Meeting (SOM). 

Besides overall briefing of the Fourth BIMSTEC Summit, the meet will also finalize on the BIMSTEC Convention/MoU (making it ready-to-be-signed) and the Draft Kathmandu Declaration of the Fourth BIMSTEC Summit.

The first-day discussion also includes adoption of the Report of the 16^th BIMSTEC Ministerial Meeting, informed the Nepali Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

Minister of State for External Affairs of India Dr VK Singh, Union Minister of International Cooperation of Myanmar Mr Kyaw Tin, Foreign Minister of Bangladesh Abul Hassan Mahmood Ali, Sri Lankan State Minister of Foreign Affairs Vasantha Senanayake, Foreign Minister of Thailand Don Pramudwinai and Foreign Secretary of Bhutan Sonam Tshong are among the key country-wise delegations participating in the meeting.

Also Read: 

• Fourth BIMSTEC Summit: Nepal All Set, Delegates Arriving In!

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