First meeting of BIMSTEC Permanent Working Committee concludes successfully in Colombo

The first meeting of the Permanent Working Committee (BPWC) of the Bay of Bengal Initiative for Multi-Sectoral Technical and Economic Cooperation (BIMSTEC) was held in Colombo on 17-18 January with the participation of representatives from all member states and the Secretary General of BIMSTEC. Ministry of Foreign Affairs Director General Economic Affairs Saroja Sirisena chaired the meeting. 

The BPWC was established following the decision made by BIMSTEC leaders at the 4th BIMSTEC Summit held in Kathmandu with a view to dealing with administrative and financial matters of the BIMSTEC Secretariat, BIMSTEC Centres and Entities. This was the first BIMSTEC meeting hosted by Sri Lanka after assuming chairmanship of the organisation.

Inaugurating the first BPWC meeting, Sri Lanka Foreign Secretary Ravinatha Aryasinha reaffirmed Sri Lanka’s commitment towards achieving the objectives of BIMSTEC and to steer the common goals of the organisation by strengthening its institutional framework. 

Ravinatha Aryasinha Secretary General M Shahidul Islam, in his special remarks, expressed deep gratitude to the Government of Sri Lanka for hosting the first BPWC. He underscored the importance of the meeting since it would deliberate on key issues such as the BIMSTEC Charter, Rules of Procedure for the BIMSTEC Mechanisms, the BIMSTEC Development Fund (BDF), rationalisation of areas of cooperation and strengthening BIMSTEC Secretariat.

All member states reiterated their commitment to deploy a Director each from respective countries to increase the number of Directors at the Secretariat. Sri Lanka will be eligible to nominate a Director to the Secretariat in 2020. The meeting also finalised the draft Terms of References (ToR) for the BIMSTEC Network of Policy Think Tanks (BNPTT).

Sri Lanka, as the lead country for technology sector, reiterated its resolve to effectively implement the BIMSTEC Technological Transfer Facility in Sri Lanka. Sri Lanka also announced that it would host the core BIMSTEC meetings in 2019; the second meeting of the Permanent Working Committee, the 20th Senior Officials Meeting , the 17th Ministerial Meeting of BIMSTEC in addition to hosting the fourth Meeting of the BIMSTEC Expert Group on Immigration Visa Matters.

M Shahidul Islam called on Foreign Secretary Ravinatha Aryasinha on the side-lines of the meeting. The two senior officials noted that BIMSTEC could play a pivotal role in strengthening regional cooperation as a bridge between South-East Asia and South Asia.