S Jaishankaris, the minister of external affairs, tweeted this morning while on a six-day trip to two countries that started on July 12.

The BIMSTEC summit in Bangkok has just begun, according to EAM Jaishankar’s tweet.

The Bay of Bengal region’s countries are brought together for extensive collaboration through the economic and technical effort known as BIMSTEC. The retreat’s topics would include how to strengthen the organisation and progress the BIMSTEC goal.

A regional multilateral body is the Bay of Bengal Initiative for Multi-Sectoral Technical and Economic Cooperation (BIMSTEC).

Members of this regional unity are located along the littoral and in nearby areas of the Bay of Bengal.

BIMSTEC links not just South and Southeast Asia but also the Great Himalayan and Bay of Bengal ecologies.

Its primary goals are to foster cooperation on issues of regional importance, accelerate social advancement, and create an atmosphere that is conducive to rapid economic development.

The EAM was present in Jakarta on July 13 and 14 for the ASEAN-India, East Asia Summit, and ASEAN Regional Forum Foreign Ministers’ Meetings.

Jaishankar also had one-on-one conferences with foreign peers. India has a strong commitment to ASEAN’s centrality in the Indo-Pacific, as seen by its participation in this ASEAN-centered regional architecture.

On July 16, he took a flight from Indonesia to Bangkok to take part in the 12th Foreign Ministers’ Meeting of the Mekong Ganga Cooperation (MGC) Mechanism.

MGC, one of the more established organisations in the lower Mekong area, is controlled by India’s Act East Policy.​

In-depth discussions on BIMSTEC issues were conducted in Dhaka earlier this month between Bangladesh Foreign Secretary Masud Bin Momen and Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) Secretary East Saurabh Kumar.

They discussed the actions taken to improve the institutional structure of BIMSTEC as well as the recent noteworthy advancements in regional collaboration. Additionally, the BIMSTEC cooperation agenda and upcoming events were discussed,” MEA Official Spokesperson Arindam Bagchi had tweeted.

“India views Bangladesh as a key driver of the BIMSTEC process and appreciates its constructive role, including as host to the BIMSTEC Secretariat,” Bagchi wrote.

The 19th BIMSTEC Ministerial Meeting was virtually attended in March 2023 by Minister of State for External Affairs S Jaishankar from Bangkok.

The Ministers endorsed a number of documents at the conference, including the rules of procedure for the core BIMSTEC mechanisms. The preliminary Host Country Agreement between India and the BIMSTEC Secretariat for the establishment of the BIMSTEC Centre for Weather and Climate in India was also agreed at the conference.