PM returns home as BIMSTEC summit ends

Desk Report: Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina returned home on Friday afternoon concluding her two-day official visit to Nepal.

She visited Nepal to attend the 4th Summit of the Bay of Bengal Initiative for Multi-Sectoral Technical and Economic Cooperation (BIMSTEC).

A Biman Bangladesh Airlines VVIP flight carrying the premier and her entourage members landed at Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport at 2:35pm.

Before leaving Kathmandu, the prime minister with the heads of government of the seven-nation regional group joined the retreat session and closing ceremony of the Summit.

Addressing the BIMSTEC Summit on Thursday, Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina called for expanding cooperation in BIMSTEC forum through the creation of free trade area, investment and energy collaboration, enhancing people-to-people contact and funding mechanism.

On the sidelines of the summit, she held meetings with her Indian and Nepalese counterparts Narendra Modi and KP Sharma Oli.

Sheikh Hasina with other BIMSTEC leaders made a courtesy call on Nepalese President Bidya Devi Bhandari.

BIMSTEC, a sub-regional organisation came into being on June 6, 1997. It comprises five South Asian states of Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Nepal and Sri Lanka and two Southeast Asian nations — Myanmar and Thailand. _BSS


risingbd/Dhaka/August 31, 2018/A K Azad