NEW DELHI:
India is set to hold a two-day disaster management exercise with the Bay of Bengal Initiative for Multi-Sectoral Technical and
Economic Cooperation (
BIMSTEC) countries at
Bhubaneswar in Odisha from February 11 to strengthen regional cooperation sans
Pakistan, said officials.
The seven members of the grouping are Bangladesh, India, Myanmar, Sri Lanka, Thailand, Nepal and Bhutan.
The three-decade old
South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) has lost its sheen with India and Pakistan using the multilateral forum to take up bilateral issues, said officials. India has reiterated elimination of terrorism in all forms as a “precondition” for any fruitful dialogue with Pakistan.
“BIMSTEC has come as alternative to SAARC barring Pakistan and Afghanistan. It may be recalled that the leaders from BIMSTEC were invited for the PM’s swearing-in after
Modi government returned to power,” said an official, who did not wish to be identified.