<span style="color: #222222;">The maiden Coastal Security Workshop for BIMSTEC countries got underway in New Delhi this morning. The workshop aims at sharing views, best practices and experiences on issues of common maritime interest.<br />''<br />''The Bay of Bengal Initiative for Multi-Sectoral Technical and Economic Cooperation, BIMSTEC is an international organisation of seven nations – Bangladesh, India, Myanmar, Sri Lanka, Thailand, Nepal and Bhutan.<br />''<br />''Giving the keynote address, Secretary (East) Vijay Thakur Singh said BIMSTEC offers a unique link between South Asia and South-East Asia. She said the Bay of Bengal is the largest bay in the world and therefore, India attaches great importance to BIMSTEC.<br />''<br />''The Secretary said BIMSTEC nations have to be mindful of security challenges, both at sea and at the coastline. She said that in the last three years, BIMSTEC has developed full security cooperation and this should continue, deepen and diversify, be it in cybersecurity, or maritime security.</span><br />