Ahead of Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba’s India visit, External Affairs Minister of India Sushma Swaraj is arriving in Kathmandu on August 10 to participate in the Bimstec foreign ministers’ two-day meeting scheduled to begin on the same day.

All the member states of Bimstec—Nepal, India, Bangladesh, Myanmar, Sri Lanka, Thailand and Bhutan—have confirmed their participation, said a senior Foreign Ministry official. India organised the BRICS-Bimstec Outreach Summit in Goa in October. Nepal is the current chair of the Bay of Bengal Initiative for Multi-Sectoral Technical and Economic Cooperation.

In Kathmandu, Swaraj is expected to meet senior political leaders besides the President and the prime minister. Established on June 6, 1997 through the Bangkok Declaration, Bimstec comprises seven states in the littoral and adjacent areas of the Bay of Bengal.