Acting Foreign Secretary Amrit Rai led a Nepali delegation to 24th virtual Session of BIMSTEC Senior Officials’ Meeting chaired by Paisan Rupanichkij, deputy permanent secretary for Foreign Affairs of Thailand, on Thursday.

In his statement, Rai expressed Nepal’s commitment to the BIMSTEC process and highlighted progresses in its Lead People-to-People Contact Sector, according to the foreign ministry of Nepal.

“Delivering his statement in the session, Acting Foreign Secretary Rai reiterated Nepal’s firm commitment to the vision, objectives of BIMSTEC charter; highlighted key regional cooperation achievements; and shared status of progress made in people-to-people contact sector and its sub-sectors culture, tourism, poverty alleviation as well as people-to-people contact forums, of which Nepal is a lead country,” the ministry said in a statement on Thursday.

Rai underscored the need to effectively implement existing legal instruments; work together for equitable climate financing; and enhance connectivity, institutionalisation process within BIMSTEC, the ministry said.

The session also dwelt on other preparatory works leading up to the sixth BIMSTEC Summit in Bangkok, Thailand ahead.

The Bay of Bengal Initiative for Multi-Sectoral Technical and Economic Cooperation (BIMSTEC) is a regional organisation of Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Myanmar, Nepal, Sri Lanka and Thailand are the member states.