Transcript of the above video: 

As the title of this video suggests, we are discussing BIMSTEC. I discussed this previously in a prior video some time ago, about a year ago in fact. That said, I thought it was worth noting as I recently read an article in the Pattaya Mail, that is pattayamail.com, the article is titled: Thailand is ready to host the 6th BIMSTEC Summit in Bangkok on 4 September 2024.

Quoting directly: "BIMSTEC stands for the Bay of Bengal Initiative for Multi-Sectoral Technical and Economic Cooperation.." That is a really long name for what can only be described as sort of the Bay of Bengal's version of like what we call the BRICS or maybe even the OECD or some of these new sort of trade and banking arrangements that are sort of coming into fruition recently; we are seeing these trade blocs if you will sort of emerging. Quoting further: "..and it includes Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Myanmar, Nepal, Sri Lanka and Thailand." I think the fact that it includes Thailand, India - the other jurisdictions are very important but they are definitely more developing and they are not, they don't sort of pack the same sort of punch economically that I would say that Thailand, India, I think you can make a strong argument for Sri Lanka although at the moment I know things aren't quite as great there as they have been in the past. But long story short, these are the major players in the Bay of Bengal area and I think that this is going to become an increasingly important Organization as time goes on. Quoting further: "During the recent second informal BIMSTEC Foreign Ministers' Meeting in New Delhi, Mr. Maris Sangiampongsa, Minister of Foreign Affairs of Thailand, confirmed Thailand's readiness to host the upcoming summit in September. He highlighted the role of the private sector in implementing Government policies effectively. The meeting was chaired by the Indian Foreign Minister while the meeting was joined by the Ministers of Foreign Affairs of Bhutan, Bangladesh and Myanmar, the Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs of Sri Lanka, the Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Nepal and the Secretary General of BIMSTEC." 

I just think it's interesting to bring up this organization because again it's kind of the global Souths if you will, kind of the Southern Asia, Southeast Asia, South Southeast Asia, South by Southeast Asia if you will, their sort of emerging trading sort of dialogue platform if you will, and I think it's going to become increasingly relevant to the point of becoming increasingly important as time goes by. So we will certainly keep you updated on this channel as to its activities as the situation evolves.