“All heads of the countries would be attending the BIMSTEC summit online except for Thailand’s Prime Minister,” confirmed by Sugeeshwara Senadeera, Director of International Relations and Foreign Media, Presidential Secretariat to News Cutter exclusively.

A source from the High Commission of India in Colombo confirmed that the mode of meeting had changed and that therefore Narendra Modi, Prime Minister of India will not be arriving in Sri Lanka to attend BIMSTEC.

Bay of Bengal Initiative for Multi-Sectoral Technical and Economic Cooperation (BIMSTEC) summit is scheduled to be held on March 30 in Colombo, the capital city of Sri Lanka. The summit will follow after the Senior Officials meeting and the 18th BIMSTEC Ministerial meeting on March 28 and 29.

BIMSTEC is a regional organization comprising seven Member States lying in the littoral and adjacent areas of the Bay of Bengal constituting a contiguous regional unity. India, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, Myanmar, Nepal, Bhutan, and Thailand are the seven countries that make up BIMSTEC.

“Prayut Chan-o-cha, PM of Thailand will be in attending the summit in Colombo as Thailand will host the BIMSTEC summit in 2023,” said Senadeera.