Bimstec to launch ambitious land, air, sea transport plan

India leads multilateral grouping’s renewed push for regional cooperation with a ‘connectivity master plan’

NEW DELHI: Senior officials of all seven countries of the Bay of Bengal Multi Sectoral Technical and Economic Cooperation (Bimstec) will meet in Bangkok from Monday to discuss an ambitious rail, road, port and air connectivity master plan in another sign that the grouping has renewed diplomatic energy and is becoming India’s preferred mode of encouraging regional cooperation.

Coming just over a fortnight after the Bimstec Summit of top leaders on August 30 and 31 in Nepal, and on the heels of a joint military exercise in which several member states participated, the connectivity meet is a bid to shake off the grouping’s image of moving slowly in their stated objectives, according to two government officials familiar with the developments.

Bimstec’s member states include India, Nepal, Sri Lanka, Bhutan, Bangladesh, Myanmar and Thailand. The draft connectivity master plan, which has been seen by HT, has been arrived at after over a decade of discussions at various levels. “The idea is to have a framework for the organisation for seamless connectivity between and across Bimstec countries, through the use of different transport modes to increase transport and trade linkages for faster and more inclusive growth,” said a senior government official.

The fact that the group is meeting less than a month after the Nepal summit shows a sense of purpose for the grouping, said a government official. The summit -- attended by PM Narendra Modi -- focused on strengthening the Bimstec institutional framework, narrowed down on specific priority areas, and committed to regular meetings.

But a major factor working in favour of the grouping is the greater political commitment from India. “India has, for the past decade, been pushing connectivity. This is an ideal platform and stands at the intersection of our focus on developing the North-east, our Act East policy, and our Neighbourhood First policy,” the second official said. When asked if the grouping was being propped up as an alternative to the Saarc because it also involves Pakistan, he said: “The problem in Saarc is not us. It is a country (Pakistan) which both uses terrorism as policy and which blocks forward movement on cooperation.