Bhutan has been assigned to take the lead role in the environment and climate change sector among the Bay of Bengal Initiative for Multi-Sectoral Technical and Economic Cooperation (BIMSTEC) member states. This was endorsed during the 17th BIMSTEC ministerial meeting, which was held virtually recently.
Founded in 1997, the BIMSTEC is an international organisation, having seven member countries Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Myanmar, Nepal, Sri Lanka, and Thailand.
The Foreign Minister, Dr Tandi Dorji, who attended the BIMSTEC ministerial meeting, said leading the environment and climate change sector would mean stimulating fruitful dialogues concerning environmental issues.
“I think for this Bhutan will have an opportunity to showcase our successes in our environment and also to spread the word on the climate change. Currently, Bhutan is the chairperson in the LDC group and with this new responsibility, I think Bhutan will have an opportunity to further talk, endorse and promote climate change action,” Lyonpo said.
That aside, the meeting endorsed the BIMSTEC charter and several Memoranda of Understanding.
“One is on the establishment of cooperation in terms of diplomatic training institutes between member countries. Next is on the transport connectivity and the third on was the mutual legal assistance providing mutual legal assistance among our countries. I think these are all very important for Bhutan. Besides this, we pass the budget for the BIMSTEC secretariat,” added Lyonpo.
Headquartered in Dhaka, the BIMSTEC seeks to foster regional and economic cooperation among the member states. It has 14 priority areas of cooperation of trade and investment, transport and communication, energy, tourism, technology, public health and agriculture. Poverty alleviation, counter-terrorism and transnational crime, environment, climate change, cultural cooperation and fisheries are among others.
Choni Dema
