Bimstec (Bay of Bengal Initiatives for Multi-Sectoral Technical and Economic Cooperation), an economic bloc of seven south and southeast Asian countries, was due to hold a summit in India on February 8 but the meeting has been delayed due to the political instability in Bangladesh and Nepal.

The ambassadors and chiefs of mission of the Bimstec member states agreed at a meeting in Nepal on January 5, 2007, to postpone the summit for at least six months, official Bangladesh sources said.

It was decided to hold the summit sometime between July and December of this year, the source added.

For the moment, the bloc has cancelled at least two deadlines for holding the technical committee meetings as well, on request from the Bangladesh and Nepal governments.

The member states of Bimstec are Nepal, India, Bhutan, Burma, Thailand, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka.

In 1994, Thailand first developed the idea of establishing a bloc to explore economic cooperation on a sub-regional basis involving the neighboring countries of South and Southeast Asia surrounding the Bay of Bengal. Bimstec was launched in 1997 in Bangkok, Thailand. #