Leaders in the Bay of Bengal region agree to improve trade ties and disasters relief efforts

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Leaders from the Bay of Bengal region gathered at a summit meeting in Bangkok, Friday, that has been overshadowed by the controversial presence of Myanmar’s military chief who seized power from the elected government in 2021.

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Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi met Myanmar’s military chief Min Aung Hlaing in Bangkok on Friday on the sidelines of a regional summit.

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Thailand’s Prime Minister Paetongtarn Shinawatra, talks to reporters during a press conference at the Bay of Bengal Initiative for Multi-Sectoral Technical and Economic Cooperation (6 th BIMSTEC) summit in Bangkok, Thailand, Friday, April 4, 2025. (AP Photo/Sakchai Lalit)

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In this photo released by Thailand’s Foreign Affairs Ministry, Thailand’s Prime Minister Paetongtarn Shinawatra center and others stand for a minute’s silence for victims of earthquake during the Bay of Bengal Initiative for Multi-Sectoral Technical and Economic Cooperation (6 th BIMSTEC) summit in Bangkok, Thailand, Friday, April 4, 2025. (Thailand’s Foreign Affairs Ministry via AP)

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In this photo released by Thailand’s Foreign Affairs Ministry, India Prime Minister Narendra Modi attends at the Bay of Bengal Initiative for Multi-Sectoral Technical and Economic Cooperation (6 th BIMSTEC) summit in Bangkok, Thailand, Friday, April 4, 2025. (Thailand’s Foreign Affairs Ministry via AP)

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In this photo released by Indian Ministry of External Affairs, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, right, poses for a photograph with Bangladesh’s Chief Adviser Muhammad Yunus during a bilateral meeting on the sidelines of the BIMSTEC Summit, in Bangkok, Thailand, Friday, April 04, 2025. (Indian Ministry of External Affairs via AP)

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In this photo released by Thailand’s Foreign Affairs Ministry, from left to right ,India Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Bangladesh’s Chief Adviser Muhammad Yunus, Thailand’s Prime Minister Paetongtarn Shinawatra, Bhutan Prime Minister Dasho Tshering Tobgay, Myanmar’s military leader Senior Gen. Min Aung Hlaing, pose for a photograph during the Bay of Bengal Initiative for Multi-Sectoral Technical and Economic Cooperation (6 th BIMSTEC) summit in Bangkok, Thailand, Friday, April 4, 2025. (Thailand’s Foreign Affairs Ministry via AP)

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In this photo released by Thailand’s Foreign Affairs Ministry, from left to right Nepal Prime Minister Khadga Prasad Oli, India Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Bangladesh’s Chief Adviser Muhammad Yunus, Thailand’s Prime Minister Paetongtarn Shinawatra, Bhutan Prime Minister Dasho Tshering Tobgay, Myanmar’s military leader Senior Gen. Min Aung Hlaing, Sri Lanka Prime Minister Harini Amarasuriya, pose for a photograph during the Bay of Bengal Initiative for Multi-Sectoral Technical and Economic Cooperation (6 th BIMSTEC) summit in Bangkok, Thailand, Friday, April 4, 2025. (Thailand’s Foreign Affairs Ministry via AP)

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In this photo released by Thailand’s Foreign Affairs Ministry, Myanmar’s military leader Senior Gen. Min Aung Hlaing,, stands for a minute’s silence for victims of earthquake during the Bay of Bengal Initiative for Multi-Sectoral Technical and Economic Cooperation (6 th BIMSTEC) summit in Bangkok, Thailand, Friday, April 4, 2025. (Thailand’s Foreign Affairs Ministry via AP)

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In this photo released by Thailand’s Foreign Affairs Ministry, Myanmar’s military leader Senior Gen. Min Aung Hlaing, attends the Bay of Bengal Initiative for Multi-Sectoral Technical and Economic Cooperation (6 th BIMSTEC) summit in Bangkok, Thailand, Friday, April 4, 2025. (Thailand’s Foreign Affairs Ministry via AP)

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In this photo released by Thailand’s Foreign Affairs Ministry, Myanmar’s military leader Senior Gen. Min Aung Hlaing, left, shakes hands with Thailand’s Prime Minister Paetongtarn Shinawatra during the Bay of Bengal Initiative for Multi-Sectoral Technical and Economic Cooperation (6 th BIMSTEC) summit in Bangkok, Thailand, Friday, April 4, 2025. (Thailand’s Foreign Affairs Ministry via AP)

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This photo shared by Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi on his X handle shows him sitting on the right, speaking with Myanmar’s Senior General Min Aung Hlaing at BIMSTEC Summit, in Bangkok, Thailand, Friday, April 04, 2025. (Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi on X via AP)

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BANGKOK (AP) — Leaders of nations in the Bay of Bengal region pledged to improve trade and transport cooperation as they concluded a summit in Bangkok on Friday.

Thailand’s Prime Minister Paetongtarn Shinawatra said the seven nations also agreed to increase natural disaster relief efforts after an earthquake last week killed more than 3,000 people in Myanmar and Thailand.

The leaders also expressed their “condolences, solidarity, and commitment to supporting the affected countries” in a joint statement on the earthquake, the Thai leader and meeting chair said.

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The meetings faced controversy by the attendance of the head of Myanmar’s military government, Senior Gen. Min Aung Hlaing, who has been shunned by many countries over his 2021 takeover and the brutal oppression that followed.

He has not been allowed to participate in the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, another regional grouping to which Myanmar belongs, and his opponents have called on BIMSTEC to refrain from engaging with him.

The Bay of Bengal Initiative for Multi Sectoral Technical and Economic Cooperation, or BIMSTEC, members are Thailand, Myanmar, Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Nepal and Sri Lanka.

It was Min Aung Hlaing’s first visit to a country other than his government’s main supporters and backers — China, Russia and Russian ally Belarus — since he attended a regional meeting in Indonesia in 2021.

Thailand Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokesperson Nikorndej Balankura said Paetongtarn had a bilateral meeting with Min Aung Hlaing, and that they discussed relief efforts for the earthquake and cooperation on border security, especially on issues of illegal trade, drugs smuggling and online scams.

Other leaders attending the summit are Muhammad Yunus, chief adviser to the Bangladesh government, and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

Thailand postponed the meetings last year, after then-Prime Minister Srettha Thavisin was removed from office by a court order. Thailand has now handed the group’s chairmanship to Bangladesh.