BIMSTEC summitry welcome

OUR PM has arrived in Myanmar along with a large delegation to attend the third BIMSTEC summit (Bay of Bengal Initiative for Multi-Sectoral Technical and Economic Cooperation). This envisages a wider umbrella to facilitate greater cooperation in various fields among the member countries on the basis of complementarities.
The 7-nation group has identified 14 areas of cooperation, each to be led by a member country. The areas are Trade - Investment and Climate - Bangladesh; Transport , Tourism , Counter-Terrorism and Environment - India; Energy and Agriculture - Myanmar; Technology- Sri Lanka; Fisheries, Public Health, People to People contact –Thailand ; Poverty Alleviation  -Nepal; and Culture -Bhutan.
As the group of seven countries create an enabling environment for rapid economic development of the sub-region, the scope and content of regional cooperation as a whole through connectivity become very substantial. And Bangladesh is likely to play significantly in the scheme of things being a bridgehead between south and south-east Asia. With regard to trade, it's the Free Trade Agreement (FTA), which has been under negotiations since the inception of BIMSTEC. As all eyes will be focused on the progress in the FTA, we expect Bangladesh to play a constructive and catalytic and role there.
Apart from responding to issues, the summit will adopt a declaration on establishment of BIMSTEC's permanent secretariat in Dhaka. This is good augury as Dhaka would be the hub of fusion related activities. A multilateral summit that brings so many opportunities for creating regional connectivity and trade should be utilized to its massive potential.