Bay of Bengal Initiative for Multi-Sectoral Technical and Economic Cooperation (BIMSTEC)
It is a regional multilateral organisation
Its members lie in the littoral and adjacent areas of the Bay of Bengal constituting a contiguous regional unity.
It came into being in 1997 through the Bangkok Declaration.
Initially, it was formed with four Member States with the acronym ‘BIST-EC’ (Bangladesh, India, Sri-Lanka and Thailand Economic Cooperation).
It became renamed ‘BIMST-EC’ in 1997, following the inclusion of Myanmar.
With the admission of Nepal and Bhutan in 2004, the name of the grouping was changed to ‘Bay of Bengal Initiative for Multi-Sectoral Technical and Economic Cooperation’ (BIMSTEC)
At present 7 members :
Five are from South Asia - Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Nepal, Sri Lanka
Two are from Southeast Asia – Myanmar, Thailand
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