Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina and her Indian counterpart Narendra Modi will meet on the sidelines the fourth BIMSTEC summit, scheduled to begin on Thursday in Nepal.
State Minister for Foreign Affairs Md Shahriar Alam gave the information during a press conference on Wednesday at the foreign ministry in Dhaka, reports bdnews24.com.
A BSS report says, Sheikh Hasina will leave Dhaka for Kathmandu on Thursday morning on a two-day official visit to Nepal to attend the 4th Summit of the Bay of Bengal Initiative for Multi-Sectoral Technical and Economic Cooperation (BIMSTEC).
The summit will commence on Thursday afternoon at Hotel Soaltee Crowne Plaza in the Nepalese capital with the participation of the leaders of the seven- nation regional grouping.
Shahriar Alam said the summit envisages a “peaceful, prosperous and sustainable” Bay of Bengal”.
He said apart from other regional leaders, the Prime Minister is expected to meet the Indian prime minister.
Alam said those meetings would provide a way to discuss bilateral issues.
The state minister said the Prime Minister will speak soon after the inaugural speech of the BIMSTEC chair which is Nepal.
They are expecting the signing of two MoUs during the summit – one is to establish BIMSTEC grid interconnection and the other is on BIMSTEC convention on mutual legal assistance in criminal matters.
It is unlikely that the Rohingya issue will be discussed at the main summit, but there will be a retreat session apart from the formal summit where the leaders can discuss the issue.
There will also be a joint declaration at the end of the summit. Sri Lanka will take the charge of the next chair from Nepal.
Foreign Minister AH Mahmood Ali is in Kathmandu now to attend the foreign ministers’ meeting on Wednesday before the summit.
Foreign secretary Md Shahidul Haque led the senior officials meeting on Tuesday.
The Prime Minister will return on Friday evening.
BIMSTEC is a grouping of seven countries along the Bay of Bengal and it is unique as it unites five South Asia countries -- Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Nepal, and Sri Lanka, with two Southeast Asian countries -- Myanmar and Thailand.
This organisation was formed on June 6, 1997 through the Bangkok Declaration that constitutes a bridge between South and South East Asia and represents a reinforcement of relations among these countries.
