PM to visit Nepal next week, boost connectivity

NEW DELHI: Prime Minister Narendra Modi will visit Nepal next week for the fourth time since he assumed office to attend the summit of seven-member Bay of Bengal grouping that would see the countries firming up connectivity and security cooperation, according to officials familiar with the matter.

Modi will attend the Bay of Bengal Initiative for Multi-Sectoral Technical and Economic Cooperation (BIMSTEC) Summit in Kathmandu on August 30 and 31, and will hold discussions with other leaders who are attending the summit.

Modi is expected to open a 400-bed ‘dharamshala’ built with Indian assistance on the Pashupatinath temple premises in Kathmandu during the trip.

The two-decade-old regional grouping is back in focus of late with the leaders agreeing to discuss key issues that concern them collectively. For New Delhi, the sub-regional grouping helps in pushing its regional connectivity plans with the SAARC (South Asian Association of Regional Cooperation) grouping faltering. “The connectivity is an important aspect of the cooperation of the grouping. This include physical connectivity, grid connectivity, and increasing the people to people contacts,” said Preeti Saran, secretary (east) in the external affairs ministry. The grouping is expected to agree to several measures, including the protocol for a coastal shipping agreement. The seven BIMSTEC countries— Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Nepal, Sri Lanka, Myanmar and Thailand — sitting in the littoral and adjacent areas of the Bay of Bengal, form a contiguous geographical entity. At the end of the summit, the member countries will come out with a joint declaration covering various areas of cooperation including security, trade, environment, connectivity, counter-terrorism and non-traditional threats, another Indian official said. Saran added that the seven BIMSTEC nations have been discussing a Free trade area (FTA) agreement and also considering organising tri-services joint exercises on disaster management and other such issues.

The summit will be preceded by a meeting of senior officials from BIMSTEC countries on 28 August and another of foreign ministers the next day.