Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli has said that Nepal’s prestige and capacity have increased after organising the 4th Bay of Bengal Initiative for Multi-Sectoral Technical and Economic Cooperation (BIMSTEC).

Informing the Parliament about the recently concluded BIMSTEC summit, PM Oli said that Nepal’s reputation, reliability and ability have amplified.

“It has been seen that Nepal can hold any kind of programme in an organised manner,” he said, adding, “He said that the summit was effective and largely successful as it was organised with caution and without any mistake.”

The 4^th BIMSTEC summit held on August 30 and 31 concluded on Friday with the member states approving an 18-point Kathmandu Declaration.

Saying that the BIMSTEC summit was successful, PM Oli informed the Parliament that he discussed bilateral visits with the President of Myanmar and Sri Lanka and various issues of the two countries with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi. 

He said that the summit has made a common conclusion to move head towards future direction and destination in an easy way rather than strain among the member states.

The Prime Minister said that he discussed regional interests and ways to resolve problems during separate meetings with the heads of state and government of the seven member states.

Moreover, he made it clear that the retreat venue had to be changed due to bad weather.

Earlier, the government had planned to organise the retreat programme at Gorkarna Forest Resort, later it was organised at Hotel Soaltee.

He said that the summit focused on core areas (trade, investment, connectivity, energy, tourism) rather than proliferation.

Similarly, PM Oli said that the summit has paved a way to sell electricity to India and BIMSTEC member states.

Meanwhile, he said that no agreement has been reached to hold joint military exercise among the armies of BIMSTEC member countries.