Nodal officials of the founding SASEC member countries — Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, and Nepal — endorsed inclusion of the Maldives and Sri Lanka as new members at the SASEC Nodal Officials’ Meeting 2014 in Astana on May 3. The move marks the first expansion of the SASEC program, which began in 2001 as a four-country regional cooperation and integration initiative focusing on the energy, transport, trade facilitation, and information and communications technology (ICT) sectors. SASEC has since implemented 30 regional projects worth more than $5 billion.