'Make BIMSTEC a result oriented organization'

Speakers at a conference of BIMSTEC on the Bay of Bengal for Multi-Sectoral Technical and Economic Cooperation have stressed the need for making the group of seven countries 'a result-oriented organization' to harness untapped potentials.

They said the BIMSTEC forum can be an alternative to the Least Developed Countries (LDCs) club for the region as Bangladesh and some other countries are coming out from the LDC category.

The conference was held at its headquarters in the city yesterday. The conference chaired by BIMSTEC Secretary General Amba-ssador M Shahidul Islam, was addressed by Foreign Minister Abul Hassan Mahmood Ali as chief the guest, Dr Chop Lal Bhusal, Ambassador of Nepal in Bangladesh and representatives of BIMSTEC member states, members of the academia, civil society and think-tanks.

Foreign Minister A H Mahmood Ali said there are many things to be done to make BIMSTEC a result-oriented organization in spite of some significant achievements in economic, social and technological sector in the region. The minister said that the organization is yet to take off despite having huge potentials for gains to bolster economic and social progress for the people of the region.

The minister stressed the need of enhancing level of trade and investment cooperation, connectivity and energy cooperation, which would certainly generate employment opportunities and facilitate economic and social development.

The minister urged experts to focus on a much wider range of issues, challenge and opportunities that make a positive impact on the work of BIMSTEC forum and come out with fruitful but realistic suggestions and recommendations to policy-makers to transform the BISMTEC process into mutually beneficial organization.

He called for enhancing people-to-people contacts, combating terrorism and extremism to achieve collective security. Dealing with adverse effects of climate change and disaster management as areas of cooperation, the foreign minister said it is now an imperative of member states that they conclude all pending formalities to harness quick dividends from our cooperation in the BIMSTEC forum.

The BIMSTEC is a regional organization comprising seven states of the Bay of Bengal region namely, Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Myanmar. Nepal, Sri Lanka and Thailand. The organization was established in 1997 for promoting cooperation in the areas of trade, investment, technological exchange, and o ther interrelated areas and contributing to peace, progress and prosperity in the region. 

Professor Dr Sultan Hafeez Rahman, Dr Prabir De, Abu Saeed Khan, Dr Ahmed Kaikaus, M Mahbub Anam, Ambassador Muhammad Zamir, Dr Surat Horichaikul, Ms Mahjabeen Khaled, MP, Dr Manzoor Ahmed, Toufique Imrose Khalidi, Ambassador Munshi Faiz Ahmed, Maj Gen A K M Abdur Rahman, Sergey Kapinos, Brig Gen (retd) Shakhawat Hussain, Ms Joyeeta Bhattacharjee, Shafiul Islam Mohiuddin, Shubhashish Bose, Dr Ahsan H Mansur, Professor Mustafizur Rahman also addressed the conference.

In the concluding session, Ambassador Kobsak Chutikul, High Commissioner of India Harsh Vardhan Shringla, Dr Dr Gowher Rizvi, adviser to the prime minister spoke at the discussion.