The 15th Bimstec Ministerial Meeting will take place in Kathmandu this Friday where the participants are expected to finalise the date of the 4th Bimstec Summit that Nepal, the current chair of the sub-regional grouping, is playing host later this year.

The ministerial meeting will be preceded by the 18th session of the Bimstec Senior Officials’ Meeting (SOM), according to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

“During the meeting, Nepal will propose the date of the summit,” said Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Foreign Affairs Krishna Bahadur Mahara told a press conference on Monday. 

According to sources, Nepal is likely to propose a date in October to host the summit considering two elections that it needs to hold before January 21 next year. Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba is scheduled to inaugurate the meeting on Thursday. The foreign ministers of member countries will make a collective call on the PM the same day.

The SOM will discuss on matters relating to formation of Eminent Persons’ Group (EPG), Bimstec Free Trade Agreement, and MoU for the establishment of Bimstec Grid Interconnection, as well as prepare agenda for the ministerial meeting.

The following day, the ministerial meeting will review the progress and achievements in the 14 identified areas of cooperation and discuss ways to accelerate the cooperation under the Bimstec process.

Minister Mahara will chair the ministerial meeting, while Foreign Secretary Shanker Das Bairagi will convene the SOM.

Mahara will host a dinner in honour of the visiting foreign ministers of the Bimstec member states and other delegates attending the meeting.

The foreign ministers from Bangladesh, Bhutan, India and Sri Lanka and the deputy foreign ministers from Myanmar and Thailand have confirmed their participation in the ministerial meeting. This ministerial meeting coincides with the 20th anniversary of the establishment of Bimstec.