India will give Rs 7.6 crore for operations

Prime Minister Narendra Modi addressed the ongoing 5th BIMSTEC (Bay of Bengal Initiative for Multi-Sectoral Technical and Economic Cooperation) summit in Sri Lanka’s capital Colombo through virtual medium today. The PM said that this is the 25th year of the establishment of BIMSTEC, so today’s summit is very important and the results of this landmark summit will write a golden chapter in the history of BIMSTEC.
The PM said that India will provide financial assistance of Rs 7.6 crore to increase the budget of BIMSTEC. Modi said that the main objective of increasing the budget is to strengthen the capacity of BIMSTEC Secretariat. Modi further said that President Rajapaksa has given efficient leadership to BIMSTEC in the challenging environment of the last two years. In his address, PM Modi talked about the issue of security. He also gave a mantra to all the countries to remain united. He said that regional cooperation is of great importance given the events that have happened in Europe now. Modi said, “The development of Europe in the last few weeks has raised questions on the stability of the international order, in this context it has become important to make BIMSTEC regional cooperation more active.” Today our BIMSTEC Charter is being adopted. It is also important to enhance the capacity of the Secretariat for BIMSTEC to meet our expectations. I suggest the Secretary General to prepare a roadmap to achieve this goal.
What is BIMSTEC?
Let us tell you that BIMSTEC is a regional grouping, which includes India, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, Myanmar, Thailand, Nepal and Bhutan. This is such an important group of 7 countries settled in the Bay of Bengal, which does not include Pakistan and China. At the same time, it is a proper medium to curb Chinese influence, bring neighboring countries together and provide a great opportunity to repair each other’s economy.