6th BIMSTEC Summit
▪ The Indian Prime Minister participated in the 6th BIMSTEC Summit, hosted by Thailand under its chairmanship
Key Initiatives Announced by India
▪ BIMSTEC Centres of Excellence.
▪ BODHI Program: India introduced BODHI Program (BIMSTEC for Organized Development of Human Resource Infrastructure) for skill development, providing training, scholarships, and capacity-building for various professionals across BIMSTEC nations.
About BIMSTEC
▪ BIMSTEC (Bay of Bengal Initiative for Multi-Sectoral Technical and Economic Cooperation) is a regional organization comprising 7 member states as Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Myanmar, Nepal, Sri Lanka, and Thailand.
▪ It aims to foster multifaceted technical and economic cooperation among countries in the Bay of Bengal region.
▪ It was founded in 1997 with the adoption of the Bangkok Declaration.
▪ Initially comprising 4 members, it was known as BIST-EC (Bangladesh, India, Sri Lanka, and Thailand Economic Cooperation). In 1977, Myanmar joined, and the grouping was renamed BIMST-EC.
▪ With the inclusion of Nepal and Bhutan in 2004, the name was further changed to BIMSTEC.
