Multilateral Cooperations
BIMSTEC is a regional organization comprising seven member states lying in the littoral and adjacent areas of the Bay of Bengal constituting a contiguous regional unity. It includes five Member States from South Asia namely Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Nepal and Sri Lanka, along with Myanmar and Thailand from Southeast Asia.
The objective of creating this alliance is to harness shared and accelerated growth through mutual cooperation in different areas of common interests by mitigating the onslaught of globalization and by utilizing regional resources and geographical advantages.
BIMSTEC has identified 14 priority areas of mutual cooperation where a member country takes lead. India is the lead country for Transport & Communication, Tourism, Environment & Disaster Management and Counter Terrorism & Transnational Crime. The ‘Science & Technology’ area is lead by Sri Lanka and the Department of Science & Technology (DST), Govt. of India is the nodal point for this sector from Indian side.