UPSC Express

Which of the following statements about the regional grouping BIMSTEC are true?
A.
It came into force in 1997 through the Bangkok Declaration.
B.
Its Permanent Secretariat is in Colombo.
C.
Thailand and Malaysia are its member states.
D.
It is a sector-driven cooperative organization.
Choose the correct answer from the following options:
A. 1 only
B. 1 and 4
C. 2 and 3
D. 3 and 4
Explanation :
The Bay of Bengal Initiative for Multi-Sectoral Technical and Economic Cooperation (BIMSTEC) is a regional organization comprising seven Member States lying in the littoral and adjacent areas of the Bay of Bengal constituting a contiguous regional unity. This sub-regional organization came into being on 6 June 1997 through the Bangkok Declaration. It constitutes seven Member States: five deriving from South Asia, including Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Nepal, Sri Lanka, and two from Southeast Asia, including Myanmar and Thailand. The regional group constitutes a bridge between South and South East Asia and represents a reinforcement of relations among these countries. Its permanent secretariat was established in Dhaka, Bangladesh in 2014.  Unlike many other regional groupings, BIMSTEC is a sector-driven cooperative organization. Starting with six sectors—including trade, technology, energy, transport, tourism and fisheries—for sectoral cooperation in the late 1997, it expanded to embrace nine more sectors—including agriculture, public health, poverty alleviation, counter-terrorism, environment, culture, people to people contact and climate change—in 2008.