6th BIMSTEC Summit: SAC Chairman joins the summit in Bangkok

The 6th BIMSTEC Summit was held at Shangri-La Hotel in Bangkok of Thailand on 4th April. Prior to the summit, the Alternate Chair of BIMSTEC, Thai Prime Minister Ms. Paetongtarm Shinawatra warmly greeted the Chairman of the State Administration Council Prime Minister Senior General Min Aung Hlaing and the leaders from Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Nepal and Sri Lanka.

Then, the meeting inaugurated with the opening speech of the Alternate Chair of BIMSTEC, Thai Prime Minister, during which the attendees observed a minute-silence to show sympathy on the loss of life and properties in Myanmar and Thailand due to devastating earthquake. This was followed by the speeches, given by the BIMSTEC Leaders.

During the meeting, SAC Chairman Prime Minister Senior General Min Aung Hlaing highlighted the theme of the summit “ Properous, Resilient and Open BIMSTEC” which perfectly conveys the purposes of the member states. He noted, with satisfaction, the adoption of BIMSTEC Bangkok Vision (2030) and the Rules of Procedures for BIMSTEC mechanisms.

The Prime Minister elaborated the regional food sufficiency to cover the increasing population. As the Lead Country for the BIMSTEC Agriculture and Food Security Sector, Myanmar has drafted the 2023-2027 BIMSTEC Fishery and Livestock Breeding Cooperation Business Plan and every member state is encouraged to actively participate in implementing the plan to ensure regional food sufficiency.

Among member countries, Bangladesh, India, Sri Lanka and Myanmar frequently suffer from natural disasters. Recently, a severe earthquake struck Myanmar and some member states were affected by the earthquake. Therefore, it’s ncecessary to accelerate regional cooperation to tackle threantening natural disasters.

In building the Open BIMSTEC, it is necessary to promote the people to people interaction between the member states based on historical, cultural, social and economic correlations. He reaffirmed Myanmar’s unwavering commitment to collaboration with all Member States to achieve the goals set in the BIMSTEC Charter and to build a “Prosperous, Resilient and Open BIMSTEC”.

Next, the Secretary General of BIMSTEC presented report on 6th BIMSTC Summit. It was followed by adoption of joint agrrement of 19th BIMSTEC Foreign Ministerial Meeting, meeting minutes approval of 20th BIMSTEC Foreign Ministers’ Meeting, adoption of BIMSTEC Bangkok Vision (2030), BIMSTEC mechanisms and 6th BIMSTEC Summit Declaration and validation of emeritus persons’ report.

Then, the Alternate Chair of BIMSTEC, Thai Prime Minister transferred the chairmanship of BIMSTEC to Chief Advisor of Bangladesh who later delivered a speech.  The summit was concluded with the closing remarks of Thai Prime Minister.