In news–The first meeting of the Inter-Ministerial Coordination Group (IMCG) at Secretary level was convened by Foreign Secretary Shri Harsh Vardhan Shringla recently.
About IMCG-
- The IMCG is set up as a high-level mechanism towards mainstreaming of India’s ‘Neighbourhood First’ policy.
- It involves secretaries of about 10 ministries as well as senior officials from the Cabinet Secretariat and National Security Council Secretariat as well as other relevant agencies along with heads of Border Guarding Forces.
- The recent meeting deliberated upon and took important decisions on various aspects of India’s bilateral relationship with Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, Maldives, Myanmar, Nepal, Pakistan and Sri Lanka in the areas of trade and investment, connectivity, border infrastructure, immigration, development cooperation, border security, etc.
- The IMCG is supported by Inter-Ministerial Joint Task Forces (JTF) convened by the concerned Joint Secretaries in the Ministry of External Affairs.
- The IMCG has provided a comprehensive direction with a whole-of-government approach to promote better connectivity, stronger interlinkages and greater people-to-people connect with our neighbours.
Source: The Hindu
