The fourth Bay of Bengal Initiative for Multi-Sectoral Technical and Economic Cooperation (BIMSTEC) summit was held in Kathmandu, capital of Nepal.

• The theme of the summit was ‘Towards a Peaceful Prosperous, and Sustainable Bay of Bengal Region’.
• India was represented by Prime Minsiter Narendra Modi. BIMSTEC is regional grouping of seven countries in South Asia and South East Asia lying in littoral and adjacent areas of Bay of Bengal constituting contiguous regional unity.

Bengal Initiative for Multi-Sectoral Technical and Economic Cooperation (BIMSTEC):

• It was established on 6 June 1997 through Bangkok Declaration. It is headquartered in Dhaka, Bangladesh.
• The first BIMSTEC summit was held in Thailand in 1997, second in India in 2008 and the third in 2014 in Myanmar.
• The members include India, Nepal, Bangladesh, Bhutan, Sri Lanka from South Asia and Myanmar, Thailand from South East Asia. They are collectively home to around 1.5 billion people which constitute around 22% of global population.