\n<\/p>\n
\n\tDealing with pandemic-related woes and other public health issues has become a critical agenda for the member states of BIMSTEC over the last two years since the COVID-19 outbreak, a top official of the regional organisation said on Saturday.<\/p>\n
\n\tSri Lanka has been identified as the lead country for coordinating and planning on public health matters, he said.<\/p>\n
\n\t“COVID-19 made us realise that pandemics and health per say is an important agenda, and as a region, we have to come together.<\/p>\n
\n\t“Before COVID-19, we were focusing more on trade, connectivity, energy, electricity and such sectors, but not much on health. However, now we have realised that health is also a very important component,” Tenzin Lekphell, BIMSTEC secretary general, told PTI.<\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n \n\tHe was speaking here on the sidelines of a two-day meet of the Bay of Bengal Initiative for Multi-Sectoral Technical and Economic Cooperation (BIMSTEC), which has Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Nepal, Sri Lanka, Myanmar, and Thailand as member countries.<\/p>\n \n\tLekphell said the BIMSTEC’s 14 areas of cooperation have also been reformed by rationalising these into seven sectors and subsectors.<\/p>\n \n\tThe main sectors in focus are trade and investment, technology, human resource development, tourism, agriculture, energy, and infrastructure and transportation.<\/p>\n \n\tEach member country has been given the mandate to lead a sector, thereby building ownership and ensuring better local cooperation, he said.<\/p>\n \n\t“BIMSTEC holds much promise as a platform for cooperation; our institutions, mechanisms and legal frameworks are turning more concrete. Ministerial meetings and senior officials’ meetings are also increasingly getting more interactive, engaging and regular,” Lekphell said.<\/p>\n \n\tHe also stated that a BIMSTEC ‘Energy Centre’ will come up in Bengaluru, where policy matters will be discussed and deliberated on, especially those related to energy and electricity.<\/p>\n \n\t“This centre will be inaugurated in June,” Lekphell added.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n