An energy centre of the regional organization Bimstec will be inaugurated in India this year, Secretary General Tenzin Lekphell has said.
The centre will serve as the secretariat for Bimstec energy cooperation, Lekphell said while speaking at a Bimstec Day reception in Dhaka on Tuesday.
State Minister for Foreign Affairs Md Shahriar Alam was also present there.
Bimstec, or the Bay of Bengal Initiative for Multi-Sectoral Technical and Economic Cooperation, was established on June 6, 1997 with the signing of the Bangkok Declaration.
Bangladesh, India, Sri Lanka, and Thailand are the founding members while Myanmar joined a few months later in December of that year. Bhutan and Nepal became members in February 2004.
June 6 is celebrated as Bimstec Day.
The Bimstec secretary general said the three key components to realize the inter-grid connection, namely the Bimstec Energy Master Plan; Bimstec Policy for Transmission of Electricity; and the Policy for Trade, Exchange of Electricity and Tariff Mechanism are in the process of being completed soon.
Meanwhile, Shahriar Alam called upon the Bimstec member states to make the bloc an "effective and result-oriented" one.
He said despite its potential, the group had not been able to yield results for the welfare of the people.
"Bangladesh is an ardent supporter of regional cooperation for the welfare of the people. Bimstec is a significant regional group. The Bay of Bengal has enormous potential for growth with 22% of the world's population living in this region. But our intra-country trade is only 7%," he said.
The Bimstec free-trade agreement issue was still pending, he added.
"We want Bimstec to become the most effective and result-oriented bloc and to work together for the benefit of the people," he said, asking the Bimstec Secretariat to take the lead role regarding coordination.
The Bimstec secretary general hoped that the leaders of the member states would "revisit and reexamine the working methods" of the association in the upcoming summit to be held in November in Thailand for achieving better results.
"It is a region with tremendous potential. But the journey is not always smooth. Pandemic, global challenges, climate change and other environmental issues call for the concerted efforts of the member countries," he said.
