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. It came into being in 1997 through the Bangkok Declaration. BIMSTEC was initially a four-member states: Bangladesh India Sri-Lanka and Thailand Myanmar joined in 1997 & Nepal and Bhutan in 2004 There are five South Asian nations: Bangladesh Bhutan India Nepal Sri Lanka There are two southeast Asian nations: Myanmar Thailand
