BIMSTEC nations agree to forge closer cooperation in traditional medicine

Sri Lanka hosted the 4th meeting of the Bay of Bengal Initiative for Multi-Sectoral Technical and Economic Cooperation (BIMSTEC) Task Force on Traditional Medicine in virtual format on Thursday.

The 4th Meeting of the BIMSTEC Task Force on Traditional Medicine was hosted by Sri Lanka in virtual format on 20 January 2022, reports the India News Network.

“Reviewing its Plan of Action, the Task Force took several decisions to forge closer cooperation in the field of traditional medicine,” said the BIMSTEC Secretariat in a tweet.

The BIMSTEC Task Force on Traditional Medicine (BTFTM) comprising experts from all seven BIMSTEC Member States has so far held three meetings.

The BIMSTEC is a regional organization that was established on June 6, 1997, with the signing of the Bangkok Declaration.

Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Myanmar, Nepal, Sri Lanka and Thailand are the seven member states of BIMSTEC.

Being a sector-driven grouping, cooperation within BIMSTEC had initially focused on six sectors in 1997 (trade, technology, energy, transport, tourism, and fisheries) and expanded in 2008 to incorporate agriculture, public health, poverty alleviation, counter-terrorism, environment, culture, people-to-people contact, and climate change.

Sri Lanka is the lead country for the coordination of activities in the Science, Technology, Innovation Sector, Health and Human Resource Development. Traditional Medicine is contained under the Human Resource Development Sub-sector.

The programmes currently underway based on decisions taken at the meetings, include working towards the harmonization of curricula for the mutual recognition of traditional medicine degrees of BIMSTEC countries, and development of a Traditional Medicine Portal.