PM off to Nepal to attend BIMSTEC summit

Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina left here this morning for Nepal on a two-day official visit to attend the 4th Summit of the Bay of Bengal Initiative for Multi-Sectoral Technical and Economic Cooperation (BIMSTEC), reports BSS. 

The summit will begin this afternoon in Katmandu with the participation of the heads of government and state of the member countries of the seven-nation regional group. 

A VVIP flight of Biman Bangladesh Airlines is carrying the Prime Minister and her entourage members took off from Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport at 8:05 am. 

Finance minister Abul Maal Abdul Muhith, Industries minister Amir Hossain Amu, Road Transport and Bridges Division Obaidul Kader, Civil Aviation minister Rashed Khan Menon and Chief Whip ASM Firoz, dean of diplomatic corps, chiefs of three services and senior government officials were present to see the prime minister off at the airport. 

The flight is scheduled to reach Tribhuvan International Airport in Kathmandu at 9:15 am local time. 

On the sidelines of the summit, the Bangladesh premier is expected to hold meetings with her Indian and Nepalse counterparts Narendra Modi and KP Sharma Oli and Bhutan’s interim government chief Dasho TsheringWangchuk. 

Sheikh Hasina and other BIMSTEC leaders will pay a joint call on Nepalese President Bidya Devi Bhandari at Sheetal Nibash, the Presidential Palace, in Kathmandu. 

Countering terrorism, enhancing regional connectivity and boosting trade are expected to be key focus of the summit. 

Sheikh Hasina will return home on Friday afternoon. 

This sub-regional organization of the South and South East Asian countries came into being on June 6, 1997 through the Bangkok Declaration. 

It comprises five South Asian countries of Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Nepal and Sri Lanka and two from Southeast Asian nations of Myanmar and Thailand.