Foreign Ministers start arriving in New Delhi for BIMSTEC meet

New Delhi: Bhutan Foreign Minister D.N. Dhungyel and Myanmar's Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister U Than Swe arrived in New Delhi on Wednesday to attend the two-day second BIMSTEC Foreign Ministers' Retreat as India continues to reiterate its commitment to promote connectivity and linkages in the shared Bay of Bengal region.

External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar will on Thursday host his counterparts for the significant Bay of Bengal Initiative for Multi-sectoral Technical and Economic Cooperation (BIMSTEC) meet which brings together seven countries of South and South East Asia for multifaceted cooperation.

"The Retreat will present an opportunity for the Foreign Ministers of the BIMSTEC countries to discuss, in an informal setting, avenues to broaden and deepen cooperation across various sectors including in the fields of security, connectivity, trade and investment, people-to-people contacts etc, in the Bay of Bengal region and littoral," the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) said in a statement.

The first edition of the BIMSTEC Foreign Ministers' Retreat was held in Bangkok in July 2023.

Last month, as he congratulated Prime Minister Narendra Modi on the BJP-led NDA's third consecutive term, Thailand Prime Minister Srettha Thavisin said that he is already looking forward to the Indian leader's visit to the country in September this year for the BIMSTEC Summit. "While Prime Minister Modi will be visiting Thailand in September this year to attend the BIMSTEC Summit; on my part, I look forward to paying an official visit to India at the earliest opportunity to realise the full potential of our relations," he said.