Bangladesh has sought time from India for a meeting between Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina and her Indian counterpart Manmohan Singh in the sideline of the Bimstec summit set to be held in Myanmar next month.
The third Bimstec summit, attended by heads of states or governments of the member countries, will be held on March 4 in Myanmar capital Naypyidaw.
“We also sought sideline meetings with the heads of participating states and governments,” said Foreign Secretary Md Shahidul Haque.
Indian High Commissioner Pankaj Saran told the Dhaka Tribune that there were definite chances that the two prime ministers might meet.
A senior foreign ministry official said Bhutan had sought schedule for a sideline meeting with Bangladesh and Dhaka had confirmed it.
“The schedule of all sideline meetings will be decided after the Bangladesh delegation reach Naypyidaw,” he said.
He also said the flight schedules and other arrangements of the Bangladesh prime minister was yet to be fixed.
About Hasina-Manmohan meeting, he said in all previous multilateral programmes including the UN General Assembly, where Hasina and Manmohan attended, they held sideline meetings. “It is expected that there will be any exception this time,” the official said.
Bangladesh, Bhutan, Myanmar, India, Nepal, Sri Lanka and Thailand are the member countries of Bimstec and currently Naypyidaw is the chair.
The Bay of Bengal Initiative for Multi-Sectoral Technical and Economic Cooperation (Bimstec) was formed in Bangkok in 1997 and had its first summit in 2004 in Bangkok and the second one in New Delhi in 2008. It has 14 sectors and Bangladesh is the lead country in trade, investment and climate change issues.
At the summit, the countries are likely to sign a deal to set up the Bimstec Secretariat in Dhaka and also a Weather and Climate Centre in New Delhi, said another diplomat.
An agreement on a Cultural Industries Commission to be set up in Thimpu was also in the pipeline, he said.
“All countries agreed to set up the secretariat in Bangladesh but the formalities are yet to be completed and we hope to conclude them in the summit,” he said.
The Bangladesh government has already allocated a building in the capital’s Gulshan as an interim headquarter for the secretariat. Renovation of the building is expected to be completed in three to four months.
Sri Lankan Diplomat Sumith Nakandala is likely to be the first secretary general of Bimstec. He is scheduled to visit Dhaka after the construction of the headquarters is complete.
