Quick on the heels of the first Quad summit, India will be a part of the Bay of Bengal Initiative for Multi-Sectoral Technical and Economic Cooperation (BIMSTEC)’s 17th meeting scheduled virtually on 1 April. Intra-regional trade amid the pandemic, technology, innovation and finalising the BIMSTEC free trade agreement is likely to be on the agenda, nearly two years after the body’s last meet in Kathmandu. Headquartered in Dhaka, BIMSTEC is an inter-regional grouping that seeks to foster regional and economic cooperation among nations in the littoral and adjacent areas of the Bay of Bengal — India, Thailand, Myanmar, Nepal, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka and Bhutan. The BIMSTEC region is home to roughly 22 per cent of the global population with a combined GDP of over $2.7 trillion. Read More.
