The Bay of Bengal Initiative for Multi-Sectoral Technical and Economic Cooperation’s (BIMSTEC) secretary general position will be held for the first time by an Indian official, Indra Mani Pandey.
Currently serving as the nation’s permanent representative to the United Nations and other international organizations in Geneva is Pandey, an Indian Foreign Service (IFS) officer from the 1990 batch.
He will be the next secretary general of BIMSTEC, according to a statement from the ministry of foreign affairs on Friday.
According to the announcement, this is the first time an Indian has held the role of secretary general of BIMSTEC.
Pandey will soon begin the task.
A regional organization called BIMSTEC was founded in June 1997. To create an institutionalized framework for advancing and expanding collaboration, its secretariat was formed in Dhaka, the capital of Bangladesh.
In order to increase regional collaboration in the Bay of Bengal area, India has given BIMSTEC a high priority. The appointment of an Indian diplomat with extensive expertise in global diplomacy as secretary general of BIMSTEC would support India’s efforts to build the organization, according to a source with knowledge of the situation.
Trade, technology, energy, transport, tourism, and fisheries made up the first six areas of BIMSTEC cooperation. In 2008, these areas were expanded to include agriculture, public health, alleviating poverty, countering terrorism, the environment, culture, people-to-people contacts, and climate change.
Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Myanmar, Nepal, Sri Lanka, and Thailand are the members of BIMSTEC.