DHAKA, July 22, 2025 (BSS) – BIMSTEC Secretary-General Indra Mani Pandey today said the organisation remains firmly focused on development while also addressing security challenges that affect the developmental goals and aspirations of its member states.

“The point about whether we are focusing more on security, I would like to reiterate that our focus is to deal with the sustainable development goals of the member states, and also in that context, the security challenges which impact developmental aspirations of our members, we could deal with them also,” Pandey said.

The Secretary-General made the remarks while responding to a question during an interactive session with members of the Diplomatic Correspondents Association, Bangladesh (DCAB) at the BIMSTEC (Bay of Bengal Initiative for Multi-Sectoral Technical and Economic Cooperation) headquarters in Dhaka.

He noted that with Bangladesh as the current Chair and host of the BIMSTEC Secretariat, there are opportunities for close coordination between the Chair and the Secretariat to advance the organisation’s agenda.

“BIMSTEC member states are keen to utilise BIMSTEC as their preferred regional platform for addressing their shared security and developmental challenges. BIMSTEC is shifting its focus to implementation, from plans of action to action,” the Secretary-General said.

Referring to the agenda of the organisation, Pandey clarified that while security is a priority sector, the primary focus remains on development. 

“If you look at our agenda, the effort of the member states has focused more on development, and almost all the dimensions of development have been covered in our agenda,” he said.

The Secretary-General explained that BIMSTEC operates through consensus among all member states. 

“And if all the member states find that they would like to deal with a specific issue, they would decide to deal with,” he said, noting that the organisation is addressing aspects of security such as human trafficking, drug trafficking, cyber security, and maritime security.

“If you look at all these challenges that we face, if you don't deal with them, and because they have a transnational dimension, then they will have an impact on development. So that is why member states have also identified a few aspects of the security for cooperation among themselves,” Pandey added.

Through existing mechanisms, the organisation aims to identify challenges requiring regional collaboration while continuing to address others at the national level, he noted.

When asked whether recent bilateral relations between Bangladesh and India could affect BIMSTEC’s progress, the Secretary-General underlined the commitment of all member governments, including India and Bangladesh, to work together through BIMSTEC.

Pandey emphasised the importance of regular meetings of BIMSTEC’s working groups, expert groups, and subgroups to maintain momentum in the organisation’s activities.

“We have different working groups, expert groups, subgroups under these groups. So, I think the Secretariat's effort is focused on working closely with our member states to make sure that we continue to have all these meetings taking place on a regular basis, and then we are able to make progress through these meetings,” he said.

Highlighting the commitment of all member states, Pandey said, “The challenge for the Secretariat, as well as member states, is to translate those decisions into concrete action, and that is why they want to focus more and more on implementation of the decisions.”