Speech
by His Excelency Mr. M. Morshed Khan, MP Foreign Minister
Government of the People's Republic of Bangladesh
at a Dinner hosted in honour of the delegations to
the 8th BIMSTEC Ministerial Meeting.
State
Guest House, Padma, 18 December 2005
Excellencies,
Ladies
and Gentlemen,
I am truly delighted to welcome you this evening.
Your presence honours us all. I am particularly happy
to welcome old friends and greet new faces.
This annual meeting of Foreign Ministers is entrusted
with the task of reviewing progress and promoting
forward movement of our grouping.
This is the first Ministerial Meeting after the first
BIMSTEC Summit. That Summit in Bangkok took some pioneering
decisions. Leaders expanded the areas of cooperation
to include such issues as human resources development,
terrorism and transnational crimes, environment and
disaster management. It is encouraging that new initiatives
have been taken in these areas. Our Senior Officials
have reviewed progress and recommended follow-up actions.
I am confident that BIMSTEC is on the right track.
The FTA negotiations are progressing well. Forward
movement has been discernible in such key sectors
as energy, transport and communication, environment
and tourism. We must now move on to the phase of elaboration
and implementation of specific projects in keeping
with the original objectives of BIMSTEC.
As BIMSTEC takes shape, we shall have to address institutional
issues, such as elaborating its Charter and Rules
of procedure and establishing a Permanent Secretariat.
We must also look hard at viable financing mechanisms
for regional and sub-regional projects.
It will be my endeavour as chair of the Ministerial
Meeting to steer our work towards the vital phase
of consolidation, transformation and implementation.
Excellencies,
Ladies
and Gentlemen,
Since the inception of BIMSTEC in 1997, our nations
have come significantly closer together.
Our peoples are bound by common tradition, shared
ideas, aspirations, culture and heritage. Greater
exchanges among the people will contribute to strengthening
these bonds of friendship, understanding and solidarity.
We gather here in Dhaka in this auspicious Ministerial
Meeting to promote our common ideals and aspirations
and to translate our ideas into meaningful cooperation
for the benefit of all our people.
Mutual trust and understanding is growing. Vital interactions
have taken place in business, tourism, health, education
and other sectors.
I wish you a very pleasant and enjoyable evening.
