Bimstec secretariat starts functioning in city next month

The secretariat of the Bay of Bengal Initiative for Multi-Sectoral Technical and Economic Cooperation (BIMSTEC) will start officially functioning in Dhaka from next month.   
Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina is set to inaugurate the secretariat at Gulshan in the city in mid September.
Foreign Ministry sources said after the inauguration, the full-fledged functioning of the secretariat will start paving the way for fulfilling the vision for a free trade area in the region.
"Many important decisions taken during different BIMSTEC summits could not go ahead in absence of the secretariat ," said an official.
He said it will be the first regional or international level secretariat being set up in Bangladesh though the country is members of many forums.
Sources said Sumith Nakandala of Sri Lanka who has already been named as the first secretary general of the secretariat has taken over the charge and working with one director.
Necessary formalities to set up BIMSTEC secretariat in Dhaka were completed during the third BIMSTEC summit held in Myanmar in March.
Formed initially in June, 1997 with Bangladesh, India, Sri Lanka and Thailand for economic cooperation, the BIMSTEC has turned into seven-member forum with inclusion of Myanmar in 1997, Nepal and Bhutan in 2003.
During its first Summit on July 31, 2004 the name of the sub- regional group was changed as 'the Bay of Bengal Initiative for Multi-Sectoral Technical and Economic Cooperation to create an enabling environment for rapid economic development in the region.