The BIMSTEC region has huge prospects for economic cooperation much of which still remains unexplored and unexploited. State Foreign Minister of Bangladesh Shahriar Alam made this comment while welcoming the newly appointed Secretary General of BIMSTEC Tenzin Lekphell in Dhaka on Sunday.

Shahriar Alam said that Bangladesh as the lead country for Trade, Investment and Development is strongly committed to strengthen BIMSTEC cooperation in this field. He emphasized on the importance of making all entities of the BIMSTEC process fully functional and operational. He added that the BIMSTEC process needs concerted and quicker efforts and more intense engagements amongst the member states. He stated that it is imperative to forge more realistic partnership and shared endeavours to prosper together through exploitation of the full potential of this region.

According to a press statement issued by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MoFA) of Bangladesh, the State Minister Shahriar Alam expressed hope that the Secretary General will be able to play a pivotal role as a bridge among Member States to achieve the goals of BIMSTEC through early conclusion and implementation of necessary agreements, MoUs and other legal documents to ensure overall development and well being of the people of the BIMSTEC region.

The Minister said that Bangladesh has already taken steps to build a new premise for the Secretariat.The Bay of Bengal Initiative for Multi-Sectoral Technical and Economic Cooperation is a regional organization comprising seven member states lying in the littoral and adjacent areas of the Bay of Bengal. Established in 1997, it has seven member states including Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Nepal, Sri Lanka, Myanmar and Thailand.