BIMSTEC Secretary General calls on President

Secretary-General of the Bay of Bengal Initiative for Multi-Sectoral Technical and Economic Cooperation (BIMSTEC), Tenzin Lekphell, called on President Gotabaya Rajapaksa on Wednesday to discuss the way forward for the association.

This is Lekphell’s first visit to Sri Lanka since his appointment as the Secretary-General of BIMSTEC on 06 November last year. The Secretary-General expressed his appreciation to the President for Sri Lanka’s contributions to BIMSTEC over the years as a founding member of the organisation.

The President pledged to work with the other Member States and the Secretariat to explore ways and means of ensuring that regional cooperation efforts through BIMSTEC translate into meaningful and tangible benefits that would directly impact the people of the region. The President noted that Sri Lanka had focused on facilitating the strengthening of the institutional framework and structures of BIMSTEC through the completion of the BIMSTEC Charter.

For BIMSTEC’s future activities, specific areas needed to be shared between member countries, President Rajapaksa noted.

Science, Technology, Innovation were the main areas relevant to Sri Lanka, the President pointed out.

The President also expressed confidence that the 5th BIMSTEC Summit, which could not be held on time due to the COVID-19 pandemic, would be held as early as possible, in 2022.

Secretary to the President P.B. Jayasundera, Director BIMSTEC Secretariat Hossain Mosharaf, Director BIMSTEC Secretariat Mahishini Colonne participated in this meeting.