Foreign Secretary Bharat Raj Paudyal shared the progress made in this sector led by Nepal. In his statement, Foreign Secretary highlighted the plans of Action prepared by Nepal on Culture and Tourism Sub-Sectors, and underlined the need for early operationalization of BIMSTEC Tourism Fund and Tourism Information Center.

Leading the Nepali delegation to the Twenty-Third Session of the BIMSTEC Senior Officials’ Meeting which was held virtually in Bangkok, foreign secretary Paudyal also conveyed Nepal’s concurrence for the inclusion of Poverty alleviation as sub-sector under the People to People Contact Sector.

The fifth Summit of BIMSTEC held in Colombo, Sri Lanka last year had reconstituted the areas of cooperation under seven sectors each of them being led by a Member State. Nepal is the lead country in the People to People contact sector and Culture, Tourism and People to People Contact sub-sectors.

The Meeting also considered the reports of the progress made in different areas of cooperation under BIMSTEC.The Meeting endorsed and recommended the Rules of Procedures for BIMSTEC Mechanisms, Terms of Reference for Eminent Persons’ Group on the Future Direction of BIMSTEC, Concept Note and Text of the BIMSTEC Bangkok Vision 2030, among othersfor approval and adoption by the 19th BIMSTEC Ministerial Meeting.

The Meeting also finalized the agenda and the proposed text of the Joint Statement of the Nineteenth BIMSTEC Ministerial Meeting to be held virtually tomorrow, 09 March 2023.