'Nepal to Host BIMSTEC Summit on Aug 31'

By Binod Prasad Adhikary

Kathmandu [Nepal] July 10 (ANI): Nepal is set to hold a two-day Bay of Bengal Initiative for Multi-Sectoral Technical and Economic Cooperation (BIMSTEC) Summit, starting from August 31, in Kathmandu, two officials inside the Nepal Foreign Ministry informed ANI seeking anonymity.

"We have received confirmation from almost all the member nation. India was the first to agree over the date and we have started the preparations for the summit to be held in the Nepali capital," the official in the Foreign Ministry informed.

The dates for BIMSTEC Summit was finalised during the Nepal cabinet meeting early June.

"We have now started the preparations for the summit, One of the members is yet to send confirmation. We expect it to agree over the date soon. As we receive the date we will announce it very soon, if not by the end of this month, formally," another official inside the same ministry informed with reservation over the name of the country yet to agree on it.

Nepal, the host nation and the current chair of the BIMSTEC, has made preparations to discuss over the trans-border crimes, terrorism, natural calamities, extremism, and illegal trade of arms, ammunition and drugs.

This will be the fourth summit of the BIMSTEC, scheduled to be held in Kathmandu. The first ever summit of the regional organization was held in Bangkok of Thailand in the year of 2004.

The BIMSTEC, a regional body founded in July 1997, has Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Myanmar, Sri Lanka and Thailand as other members of the regional forum, including Nepal.

On a related note, with the participation of India in the summit, this will Prime Minister Narendra Modi's fourth visit to the Himalayan nation, in less than four months.

"Prime Minister Modi will be coming to Nepal for the summit by the end of August. He will be landing in Kathmandu on August 30. The mission already have started the preparatory tasks for his visit," a source inside the Indian Mission to Nepal confirmed ANI.

Prime Minister Modi, from May 11 to 12, was in Nepal on a two-day state visit. (ANI)

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