Bay of Bengal nations resolve to face calamities together
An umbrella organization of Bay of Bengal nations says its members must leverage geographical advantage and other resources to address their post-pandemic vulnerabilities and collectively strengthen resilience to face future calamities
Your support helps us to tell the story
From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it's investigating the financials of Elon Musk's pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, 'The A Word', which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.
At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.
The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.
Your support makes all the difference.An umbrella organization of seven Bay of Bengal nations says its members must urgently leverage geographical advantage and other resources to address their post-pandemic vulnerabilities and collectively strengthen resilience to face future calamities.
In a declaration on the last day of their three-day summit Wednesday, the group said the members resolve to work together to combat poverty, natural disasters, climate change, pandemics and transnational crime.
They also resolved to work toward food and energy security and strengthen their connections to grow trade, investment, tourism and technology and offset economic losses caused by the COVID-19 pandemic.
Sri Lanka hosted the 5th summit of the Bay of Bengal Initiative for Multi Sectoral Technical and Economic Corporation in its national capital Colombo.
Leaders of the host country, Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Myanmar, India, Nepal and Thailand are scheduled to address the summit virtually. Six foreign ministers took part in an officials' meeting Tuesday but the foreign minister of Myanmar who was earlier scheduled to participate in the meeting joined virtually.
Thailand later takes over as BIMSTEC's chair nation.