The meeting of the Bay of Bengal Initiative for Multisectorial Technical and Economic Cooperation (BIMSTEC) free trade area will be held in Thimpu of Bhutan to resolve the issues pertaining to free trade in the region, Nepali media reported Sunday.

According to Nepali Ministry of Industry, Commerce and Supply, the 14th meeting of BIMSTEC has been proposed to be held on May 7- 8, but the date is yet to be finalized.

The meeting was earlier scheduled to take place in New Delhi of India in January, but it was postponed as Nepal and the Bangladesh said they would not attend the meeting, nepalnews.com website reported.

The meeting will discuss the contentious issues like rule of origin, market protection among others for the implementation of free trade agreement within the member countries of BIMSTEC.

BIMSTEC was set up in June 1997 to foster socio-economic cooperation among Bangladesh, India, Sri Lanka and Thailand. Myanmar was admitted as a full member in December 1997. Bhutan and Nepal were admitted in 2004.

Source: Xinhua