Foreign Minister Dr Hasan Mahmud today said that the next Summit of the Bay of Bengal Initiative for Multi-Sectoral Technical and Economic Cooperation (BIMSTEC) will be held on September 4 in Bangkok, Thailand.
 
Briefing the media at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs on the recently held second BIMSTEC Foreign Ministers' Retreat, he said Bangladesh will take responsibility as the next chair of BIMSTEC there.

The 2nd BIMSTEC Foreign Ministers' Retreat was held in New Delhi on July 11-12 and saw the participation of Foreign/External Affairs Ministers from all member states, with the exception of Nepal, which was represented by its Foreign Secretary. Foreign Minister Hasan led the Bangladesh delegation in this Retreat.
 
Secretary General of the BIMSTEC Indra Mani Pandey has recently said the next Summit will have some significant outcomes and it will set a direction for the future of the BIMSTEC. The BIMSTEC Secretary General hoped the upcoming Summit would add new vigour to regional cooperation within BIMSTEC.
 
"I believe BIMSTEC has a bright future. All the members are truly committed to make sure BIMSTEC becomes a success story," he said while making a presentation on BIMSTEC activities at its headquarters in Dhaka recently.
 
The Summit will adopt a Bangkok Vision 2030 which would be an overarching kind of document and give direction to the organisation, he said, adding that it would be one of the significant outcomes.
 
The primary objective of the Retreat was to engage in open and candid discussions on areas of cooperation within BIMSTEC to find solutions to the regional challenges and to brainstorm new ideas and suggestions for the future direction of the organization.

Given the various global and regional developments, the meeting (retreat) assumed greater significance and set the stage for enhanced regional cooperation for the benefit of the people of the region.
 
The retreat was divided into two sessions. During the first session, the Foreign Ministers introduced several new ideas aimed at strengthening the BIMSTEC process.

They discussed strategies to ensure the success of the upcoming 6th BIMSTEC Summit and followed up on discussions from the 1st BIMSTEC Foreign Ministers meeting held in Bangkok on 16 July 2023.

Among the key proposals was the establishment of Centers of Excellence in member states, focusing on Agriculture, Disaster Management, and Maritime Transport. India announced support for cancer research and treatment, while Sri Lanka proposed the inclusion of kidney disease.