BIMSTEC to focus on terrorism

Ahead of the meeting of foreign ministers of seven countries who are members of the Bay of Bengal Initiative for Multi-Sectoral Technical and Economic Cooperation (BIMSTEC) slated to be held in New Delhi today, officials today got down to chalk out the agenda with terrorism topping the list.

The foreign ministers of India, Bangladesh, Bhutan, Nepal, Myanmar, Sri Lanka and Thailand will be participating in the discussions.

"Terrorism is expected to be high on the agenda of the meeting as also intra-regional trade and economic cooperation would be among the issues to be discussed," official sources said. The officials are likely to discuss a proposed pact on combating terrorism for approval by the foreign ministers, the sources said.

The pact, to focus on closer coordination and intelligence sharing on terror outfits active in the region, is expected to be signed at the BIMSTEC summit India will be hosting in November.

The pact is being planned on the lines of the one signed by the eight-nation South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (Saarc) at its summit in Colombo.

The pact assumes importance in the wake of terrorist groups like Harkat-ul-Jihad-al-Islami and Bangladesh (HUJI-B) being involved in a spate of recent terror attacks in India, an escalation in activities of extremists and terrorists in countries like Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Thailand and the increasing region-wide networking among terror outfits. Another item expected to be high on the agenda is the setting up of a permanent secretariat for BIMSTEC, which currently functions from Bangkok.

This issue is, however, likely to see some renewed lobbying by Bangladesh, Sri Lanka and Thailand who are keen to host the secretariat. A decision on this is likely to be taken at the foreign ministers' meeting here.

Statesman