BIMSTEC’s challenges despite new importance

Prime Minister Narendra Modi's initiative to hold the Leaders’ Retreat of the BIMSTEC group in Goa in 2016 (for the BRICS outreach programme) gave a fillip and new importance to the bloc of seven nations, experts and officials said. However, despite the large strides it has taken since then, serious constraints face BIMSTEC.

At a seminar on 'Future Orientation of BIMSTEC', M. Shahidul Islam, Secretary General, BIMSTEC, and envoys of some of the member nations spoke of the challenges and suggested ways to overcome constraints facing the group comprising Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Nepal and Sri Lanka from South Asia, and Myanmar and Thailand from Southeast Asia.

"Hosting of the BIMSTEC-BRICS Outreach summit in Goa in 2016 infused fresh life into the BIMSTEC process. It had a very strong impact on cooperation among the bloc," said a speaker, whose name cannot be disclosed as the discussion was held under Chatham House rules that do not allow the source of information to be divulged.

The BIMSTEC - or Bay of Bengal Initiative for Multi-Sectoral Technical and Economic Cooperation, which has its Secretariat in Dhaka, Bangladesh, focuses on trade, transport, technology, counter terrorism, people-to-people contact, tourism, climate change, and agriculture cooperation among the seven countries.

But the bloc is hobbled by lack of funds as well as the failure to sign a Free Trade Agreement that could help trade within the bloc rise to USD240 billion.

Formed in 1997, the bloc is home to 1.5 billion people, constituting around 22 % of the global population, with a combined GDP of USD2.7 trillion, and have strong historical and cultural ties.

The growth rate of member states has been around 6.5%.

India has been stressing on BIMSTEC and pushing smaller groupings within South Asia after the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) ground to a halt after the last summit, scheduled in Islamabad, was called off following crossborder terrorism emanating from Pakistan.

India also increasingly views BIMSTEC as a pivot to its Act East Policy, indicated in its invitation to leaders from the group for the Narendra Modi:2.0 government’s swearingin ceremony.

Once the Motor Vehicles Agreement (MVA) and a Coastal Shipping Agreement between BIMSTEC members is signed by members, it will go a long way in enhancing intra-bloc trade.

Meetings are becoming more regular, with the foreign secretaries having met 19 times, and the foreign ministers having met 16 times, while four summit meetings have been held so far.

In another sign of its growing regional relevance, BIMSTEC is being approached for project-based cooperation by the Asian Development Bank, Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP), and Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD).