Indian support for Dhaka BIMSTEC secretariat

India will support establishment of the secretariat of the Bay of Bengal for Multi-Sectoral Technical and Economic Cooperation (BIMSTEC) in Bangladesh. New Delhi will contribute 32 per cent of the cost of establishing the secretariat in Dhaka as a mark of its strong commitment to the BIMSTEC process. Sujatha Singh, Foreign Secretary of India, has said that a formal announcement on establishment of the permanent secretariat of the BIMSTEC in Dhaka would be made during the third summit of the six-nation bloc scheduled to be held in Naypyidaw, the capital of Myanmar, on Mar 4. Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina is likely to hold a bilateral meeting with her Indian counterpart Manmohan Singh on the sideline of the BIMSTEC summit. This is going to be the last meeting between the two leaders as Singh’s 10-year-long tenure as the Prime Minister of India is likely to end after the Indian Parliament polls this summer. Sujatha Singh said that the two Prime Ministers were expected to have a cordial and comprehensive meeting in Naypyidaw covering all aspects of the bilateral relations. During Hasina’s visit to New Delhi in January 2010, Bangladesh had requested India to support its bid to host the BIMSTEC Secretariat in Dhaka. The joint statement issued on the occasion of her visit had referred to India’s promise to give the request from Bangladesh “due consideration”. The BIMSTEC – comprising Bangladesh, Bhutan, Myanmar, India, Nepal, Sri Lanka and Thailand – links South Asia with South East Asia, according to bdnews24.com.