As the lead country in Fisheries, Public Health,
and People-to-People Contact sectors in BIMSTEC, Thailand has highlighted its
cooperation activities and projects that enhance cooperation in these areas.
According to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs,
all 14 priority areas of cooperation were reviewed at the BIMSTEC Senior
Officials’ Meeting and the Ministerial Meeting prior to the Summit.
The 3rd Bay of Bengal Initiative for
Multi-Sectoral Technical and Economic Cooperation (BIMSTEC) Summit and related
meetings took place in Nay Pyi Taw, Myanmar, from 2 to 4 March 2014.
Regarding fisheries, the Department of Fisheries
of Thailand has contributed to a sustainable use of marine resources through
effective conservation and management of resources by organizing training
programs on aquatic plants tissue culture and workshops on sustainable
fisheries regularly during the past eight years. The Department plans to
conduct a series of training programs on biotechnology in aquaculture in the
years to come.
Concerning public health, the Ministry of Public
Health has been promoting cooperation in the traditional medicine and plans to
host the 3rd BIMSTEC Meeting on the Network of National Centers of Coordination
in Traditional Medicine in 2015.
Regarding the raising of public awareness of
BIMSTEC, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, in cooperation with Chiang Mai
University, organized the International Conference on BIMSTEC Connectivity and
People to People Contact in Chiang Mai in 2012 and plans to host the 2nd
Meeting of BIMSTEC Network of Think-Tank in 2014.
Thailand has played an important role in the
BIMSTEC Free Trade Agreement negotiation. It has also made progress of
developing good agricultural practice, including organic agriculture, promoting
energy security and cooperation, and combating terrorism and transnational
crime.
BIMSTEC was initiated by Thailand in 1997, with
the vision to combine the “Look West” policy of Thailand and ASEAN with the
'Look East' policy of India and South Asia. The purposes of BIMSTEC are to
create an enabling environment for rapid economic development, and accelerate
social progress in the sub-region. BIMSTEC also aims to promote active
collaboration and mutual assistance on matters of common interest, and provide
assistance to each other in the form of training and research facilities. It
emphasizes collaborative efforts projects and activities that are supportive of
and complementary to national development plans of member states.
BIMSTEC also maintains close and beneficial
cooperation with existing international and regional organizations and
cooperates in projects that can be dealt with most productively on a
sub-regional basis and which make best use of available synergies.
The First BIMSTEC Summit took place in Bangkok
in 2004 and the Second Summit was in 2008 in New Delhi. Nepal will assume the
next Chairmanship of BIMSTEC after the Summit in Nay Pyi Taw.
BIMSTEC has evolved into a strong regional
cooperation framework, with a quarter of the world's population and GDP of
2,467 billion US dollars. Its average economic growth was 6.4 percent in 2012.
(thailand.prd.go.th)