As the Bay of Bengal returns to the limelight of strategic attention after years of isolation, its littoral countries are keen to re-engage with one another, to build a more collaborative future. A natural platform to reinforce these ties and develop avenues of cooperation is the Bay of Bengal Multi-Sectoral Technical and Economic Cooperation or BIMSTEC-the regional organisation exclusive to the Bay. Interest is therefore mounting as BIMSTEC prepares to host its 5th Summit Meeting on 30 March 2022, wherein it will rationalize its sectors of cooperation and adopt a Charter for the first time, since its inception in 1997.

Keeping the significance of this event in mind, Observer Research Foundation under its Neighbourhood Studies Initiative has curated a series of brief interactions under the banner of BIMSTEC Summit 2022. The web series is composed of 8 video Conversations, each dedicatedly covering one of the 7 BIMSTEC member countries; India, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Myanmar, Thailand, Nepal, Bhutan and the BIMSTEC Secretariat itself. The agenda is to have focused discussions with domain experts on various key issues ranging from security to people-to-people contact, which the organisation must cultivate as it tries to regain its vigour in the Bay of Bengal region.