Sri Lanka to lead Science, Technology and Innovation

Sri Lanka will lead the Science, Technology and Innovation sector in the Bay of Bengal Initiative for Multi Sectoral Technical and Economic Cooperation (BIMSTEC), the Foreign Relations Ministry said.  

In a statement, it said a BIMSTEC Facility for Technology Transfer is planned to be opened in Sri Lanka in the future. Sri Lanka will also appoint a Director to the BIMSTEC Secretariat in June this year.   

This was agreed during the finalization of areas of cooperation among BIMSTEC member states during the 20th Session of the Senior Officials’ Meeting (SOM) Chaired by Foreign Secretary Ravinatha Aryasinha on Tuesday.   

The SOM was preceded by the 3rd Permanent Working Committee Meeting Chaired by Additional Secretary (Economic Affairs) P.M. Amza, from March 1 to 2 at the Foreign Relations Ministry.   

Sri Lanka is mandated to lead the sector on Science, Technology and Innovation under which cooperation in Technology, Health and Human Resource Development is also included.   
Bangladesh was mandated to lead Trade, Investment and Development, Bhutan - Environment and Climate Change, Myanmar - Agriculture and Food Security, India - Security (Counter Terrorism and Transnational Crime, Disaster Management & Energy), Nepal - People to people contact (culture, tourism, forums of Think Tanks, Media etc) and Thailand - Connectivity.   
The BIMSTEC Charter which is the institutional mechanism to effectively steer the process of regional cooperation under BIMSTEC was also finalised and is expected to be adopted at the 5th BIMSTEC Summit.   

Sri Lanka is mandated to lead the sector on Science, Technology and Innovation under which cooperation in Technology, Health and Human Resource Development is also included

Foreign Secretary Aryasinha, chairing the 20th Session of the SOM, said since Sri Lanka assumed the Chair it had sought to reinvigorate the 20-year-old organisation.   

In this context, Sri Lanka had focused on the need for institutional building through the finalisation of the BIMSTEC Charter and the allocation of defined areas of cooperation among the member states as this will add focus to the future activities of BIMSTEC.   

He added that Sri Lanka which is scheduled to handover the chairmanship to Thailand later this year, was keen to also finalise tangible avenues of cooperation in the fields of trade, investment, technology, tourism and connectivity, ahead of the Summit.   

BIMSTEC Secretary General, Ambassador Shahidul Islam, commended the signing of an MoU on Establishment of BIMSTEC Grid Interconnection in April 2019, in addition to the finalisation of the BIMSTEC Convention on Mutual Legal Assistance in Criminal Matters and Memorandum of Association on the Establishment of BIMSTEC Technology Transfer Facility.