Foreign Minister Prof. G.L. Peiris held discussions with Secretary General Tenzin Lekphell of the Bay of Bengal Initiative for Multi Sectoral Technical and Economic Cooperation (BIMSTEC) on the sidelines of the 21st IORA Council of Ministers Meeting in Dhaka, Bangladesh today (16/11).
Minister Peiris reiterated that Sri Lanka as the Chair focused on institution building during its Chairmanship and was successful in finalizing the BIMSTEC Charter and the allocation of defined areas of cooperation among the Member States in order to add focus to future activities of BIMSTEC. He also added that Sri Lanka is keen to hold the 5th BIMSTEC Summit in person in Colombo early next year and the date for the meeting will be communicated in consultation with the Member States given the successful vaccination program carried out in Sri Lanka to mitigate the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic.