The Workshop on Promotion of Agriculture Trade and Investment was held from 29-30 November 2017 in Thimphu, at the invitation of the Royal Government of Bhutan. Delegations from all Member States attended the Meeting, except Nepal.

The Workshop recommended that the signing of the BIMSTEC FTA be expedited to overcome the barriers to trade and investment in the region, and suggested to involve the Private Sector in similar BIMSTEC events in future to encourage them to invest within the region.

Given the low intra-regional trade within the region due to limited information on products of BIMSTEC region, the Workshop recommended to upgrade the website of the Secretariat and to create a common platform, such as e-portal to showcase the products of BIMSTEC to the regional and global market. The Workshop also recommended that the human resource capacity of the Secretariat be strengthened in order to serve the Member States more effectively.