BIMSTEC

Bay of Bengal Initiative for MultiSectoral Technical and Economic coorperation

Background

On 6 June 1997, a new sub-regional grouping was formed in Bangkok and given the name BIST-EC (Bangladesh, India, Sri Lanka, Thailand Economic Cooperation). Click here to view the Declaration on the Establishment of BIST-EC, June 1997. Myanmar attended the inaugural June Meeting as an observer and joined the organization as a full member at a Special Ministerial Meeting held in Bangkok on 22 December 1997, upon which the name of the grouping was changed to BIMST-EC. Click here to view the Declaration on the Admittance of Myanmar as a Member, December 1997. Nepal was granted observer status by the second Ministerial Meeting in Dhaka in December 1998. Subsequently, full membership has been granted to Nepal and Bhutan in 2003. During the First Summit in Bangkok on 31 July 2004, the grouping’s name was eventually changed to the ‘Bay of Bengal Initiative for Multi-Sectoral Technical and Economic Cooperation’, or BIMSTEC.

Member country

Bangladesh, India, Myanmar, Sri Lanka, Thailand, Bhutan and Nepal