Minister for Foreign Affairs Prakash Sharan Mahat has insisted on the need of connecting Bay of Bengal Initiative for Multi-sectoral Technical and Economic Cooperation (BIMSTEC) zone by transport connectivity.

During his meeting on Tuesday with foreign secretaries of BIMSTEC member states who are presently in the Capital in course of participating in the ongoing meeting of BIMSTEC officials, the Foreign Minister said he hoped that linking the BIMSTEC member states by transport connectivity would help further development of the region and strengthening of mutual and people-to-people relations.

The meeting was held at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

The BIMSTEC is an important forum for its member states as it helps for tourism promotion and economic development, the Minister added. He went on to say that common transport connectivity would also help us fight against terrorism. No member nations have a disagreement on the agenda of combating terrorism in the region.

As Nepal is a landlocked country, it believes that transport connectivity by sea (if possible) would benefit the country to a maximum degree.

He informed BIMSTEC foreign secretaries that Nepal would possibly hold the BIMSTEC ministerial-level meeting in coming June and would likely hold the BIMSTEC Summit soon. Nepal presently assumes the chair of BIMSTEC. RSS