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Bangladesh is likely to send its Prime Minister's Defence Adviser, Brig Gen (Retd) AKM Shamsul Islam is to participate in the BIMSTEC National Security Adviser's (NSA) meeting scheduled to be held in New Delhi on July 16, a media report said.
"Prime Minister's Defence Adviser Brig Gen (Retd) Dr AKM Shamsul Islam will represent Bangladesh at the meeting, and his participation has already been communicated to the Indian government through diplomatic channels", UNB, a local news agency, reported, quoting a diplomatic source. "India's handling of the visit will be viewed as an 'important consideration' for future high-level visits and other official engagements between the two countries", said the report. The fifth BIMSTEC National Security Advisers' Meeting will be hosted by India and is scheduled to take place in New Delhi on July 16. The Bay of Bengal Initiative for Multi-Sectoral Technical and Economic Cooperation is an international organisation of seven South Asian and Southeast Asian nations, housing 1.73 billion people and having a combined gross domestic product of USD 5.2 trillion. Bangladesh is the current chair of BIMSTEC, and its secretariat is located in the capital of Bangladesh, Dhaka. The development comes at a time when India-Bangladesh ties are improving with the resumption of Indian tourist visas in Bangladesh after a two-year hiatus. India has also announced that it will further scale up its visa operations. BIMSTEC is a regional organisation that was established on June 6, 1997, with the signing of the Bangkok Declaration. Initially known as BIST-EC (Bangladesh-India-Sri Lanka-Thailand Economic Cooperation), the organisation is now known as BIMSTEC and comprises seven Member States, with the admission of Myanmar on December 22 1997, and Bhutan and Nepal in February 2004. On June 6 1997, representatives of the Governments of Bangladesh, India, Sri Lanka, and Thailand came together in Bangkok and signed the 'Declaration on the Establishment of the Bangladesh-India-Sri Lanka-Thailand Economic Cooperation (BIST-EC). According to the official website, BIMSTEC's institutional evolution has been gradual. Following a decision at the Third BIMSTEC Summit in 2014, the BIMSTEC Secretariat was established in Dhaka, Bangladesh, in that same year, providing an institutionalised framework for deepening and enhancing cooperation. Earlier, strengthening regional ties through youth empowerment, India hosted a week-long BIMSTEC Youth Leadership Exchange Programme from April 25 to 30, bringing together more than 70 emerging leaders from across the Bay of Bengal region. In a post on X, Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal stated that "implementing the announcement by PM @narendramodi to promote youth exchanges across the Bay of Bengal region, the ministry hosted a BIMSTEC Exchange Program for Young Leaders in association with @ArtOfLiving in Bangalore and Bhubaneswar on April 25-30." The initiative was in line with India's strong commitment to strengthening sustainable regional cooperation in its neighbourhood. According to the MEA, the programme was "expected to nurture future-ready leaders with an approach of integrating inner well-being with leadership, systems thinking, collaborative problem-solving, and community engagement." (ANI)
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