Thailand has decided to organise the stalled sixth summit of the Bay of Bengal Initiative for Multi-sectoral Technical and Economic Cooperation (Bimstec) in the first week of April and sent a proposal to the member states for their concurrence.

The prime minister has received the invitation and Nepal has given it concurrence to participate in the summit, Minister for Communication and Information Technology Prithvi Subba Gurung told the Post.

The sixth summit of Bimstec was earlier planned in Thailand in the first week of September. Prime Minister Oli, besides attending the Bimstec summit, had also made up his mind to make the Thailand trip a bilateral visit upon the summit’s completion.

But due to political changes in Thailand, the summit was postponed. “Thailand has proposed a new date in the first week of April and we have already given the concurrence,” a senior foreign ministry official said. “But whether the prime minister will undertake a bilateral visit to Thailand is uncertain as of now.”

Bimstec is a grouping of Nepal, India, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Bhutan, Thailand and Myanmar. The countries’ leaders meet for the summit every two years.

Ahead of the summit, according to officials, a series of multilateral meetings are planned between member states. Thailand, the current Bimstec chair, hosted the 24th Bimstec Senior Officials’ Meeting (SOM) virtually on December 19, according to the Thai Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

During the meeting, according to the Thai foreign ministry, Thailand proposed the establishment of a Bimstec Centre of Excellence in Tropical Medicine and Public Health as well as the Bimstec Excellence Centre in Public Audit (BECPA).

Thailand also informed the meeting of its proposed schedule for the sixth Bimstec summit in April 2025, said a foreign ministry statement. The meeting also reviewed several documents relating to external partners, including the Permanent Observer Status of Bimstec at the United Nations and cooperation between Bimstec and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean).

In the meeting, according to the Bimstec secretariat, the member states provided comprehensive updates on the progress they had made in forging regional cooperation in the sectors and sub-sectors they lead.

“They also outlined their proposals for expanding regional cooperation within the Bimstec framework in future. The 24th session of senior officials’ meeting approved the budget of the secretariat for 2025 and took other key decisions pertaining to expanding cooperation in various sectors, underscoring the collective commitment of the member states to advancement of regional cooperation under the Bimstec framework,” said the statement, adding that the session concluded with adoption of the report of the 24th Bimstec senior officials’ meeting, which will be submitted to the next Bimstec ministerial meeting comprising foreign ministers of the member states.

India visit as per our need: Oli

A meeting of the CPN-UML Secretariat that concluded on Wednesday discussed the prospect of Prime Minister Oli’s India visit. Besides removing the party’s senior leader Bhim Rawal from the party, the meeting also discussed other contemporary issues.

“One of those issues discussed was the prospect of the prime minister's India visit,” said a secretariat member. “We also discussed the recent India-China understanding on resuming the Kailash Mansarovar Yatra, which could traverse Lipulekh that Nepal claims as its territory.”

Though the recent understanding reached between India and China does not specifically mention resumption of the Kailash Mansarovar Yatra via Lipulekh Pass, the ruling party also briefly touched on the matter, which was brought up by some Nepali media outlets, according to Minister Gurung, who is also the government spokesperson.

“The recent agreement between India and China does not affect Nepal,” said Gurung. “There is no need for us to express our concerns and dissatisfaction.”

“As the understanding is technical in nature, we should not worry,” said Gurung. “The issue was discussed at the UML’s secretariat meeting, not in the Cabinet.”

The understanding between India and China, a technical matter, is not going to affect our map, said Gurung during a press conference on Wednesday to make public the Cabinet's decisions. “The secretariat meeting concluded that we need not worry,” he added.

During the meeting, the prime minister himself raised the issue of his planned India visit, the minister said.

“My China visit was successful,” Oli told the secretariat. “As I have already met Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi on the sidelines of the United Nations general assembly, the visit to India will happen as per the need and requirement.”

Oli has not received any invitation from New Delhi despite sending Foreign Minister Arzu Rana Deuba and several emissaries to the Indian capital to create an environment for the visit.

Relations between Oli and New Delhi hit rock bottom after the boundary row spanning November 2019 and June 2020. In response to India’s new political map issued in November 2019, the Nepal government in 2020 approved its own new map incorporating the Kalapani area in it.

“There is no need to make a hue and cry about my delayed India visit,” Oli said at the party meeting.

Some secretariat members had asked why the prime minister’s India visit was not happening and about the concerns that the Oli government could be toppled due to India’s displeasure. But other secretariat members were of the view that just because their chairperson was not going to India did not mean his government would confront a crisis.

Oli said he would visit India as soon as he received an invitation from the neighbour admitting that he had yet to get the invite.

Multiple UML leaders said Oli was eager to visit India soon after becoming the prime minister in mid-July. But he did not get the invitation and went to China instead in his first bilateral visit. Of late, he has been sending emissaries to India to create an environment for a visit.