Bay of Bengal Initiative for Multi-Sectoral Technical and Economic Cooperation (BIMSTEC) is a sub-regional organization of seven countries of South Asian and South East Asia.
These countries are Bangladesh, India, Myanmar, Sri Lanka, Thailand, Bhutan and Nepal who are dependent on Bay of Bengal. Its permanent secretariat is in Dhaka, Bangladesh and India provides about 32% of its expenditure.
BIMSTEC was set up on June 6, 1997 through the Bangkok Declaration with four countries – Bangladesh, India, Sri Lanka and Thailand as its members and was called BIST-EC (Bangladesh, India, Sri Lanka, Thailand Economic Cooperation). Later, Myanmar became a full member in December 1997 during a special ministerial meeting and hence the name was changed into BIMST-EC.
BIMSTEC uses the alphabetical order for the Chairmanship. The Chairmanship of BIMSTEC has been taken in rotation commencing with Bangladesh (1997–1999).
In February 2004, at the 6th ministerial meeting, Nepal and Bhutan became full time members and in July 2004, the group was renamed to BIMSTEC-Bay of Bengal Initiative for Multi-Sectoral Technical and Economic Cooperation.
BIMSTEC planned to hold summits every two years, ministerial meetings every year and senior official meetings twice a year.
The prime objective of BIMSTEC was technological and economic cooperation among the countries along the coast of Bay of Bengal. It started with six objectives- trade, technology, energy, transport, tourism and fisheries in late 1997. Later it expanded to add nine other objectives- agriculture, public health, poverty alleviation, counter-terrorism, environment, culture, people-to-people contact and climate change in 2008.
This organization of seven countries consist of 22% of the global population with the total GDP of USD 2.8 trillion.
BIMSTEC as an alternative to SAARC (South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation)
BIMSTEC has been seen as an alternative to SAARC recently. This was seen when India refused to attend SAARC summit in Islamabad in 2016. This was after the Uri military base camp attack in India in 2016. Bhutan, Bangladesh and Afghanistan followed India’s suit to stay away from the summit.
SAARC which comprises of Afghanistan, Bangladesh, India, Bhutan, Maldives, Nepal, Sri Lanka and Pakistan has two largest members in the organization. But because of their rivalry, it is quite difficult for the organization to work efficiently. Pakistan has been blocking many initiatives such as SAARC Motor Vehicles Agreement and SAARC Railways Agreement, and refusing to cooperate on combating cross-border terrorism.
In BIMSTEC, India is the largest economic power and hence has the power to get all the countries together and work without interruption. BIMSTEC region has a lot of untapped natural resources like hydropower potential in the Himalayan basin to hydrocarbons in Bay of Bengal.
BIMSTEC also has three major projects-
- Kaladan Multimodal project which will link India to Myanmar,
- Asian Trilateral Highway which will connect India to Thailand via Myanmar,
- Bangladesh, Bhutan, India and Nepal (BBIN),
which when it is completed will have make the movement of goods and vehicles through the country easier.
This year, the fourth BIMSTEC summit was held on 30th and 31st August in Kathmandu. The last summit was held in 2014 in Myanmar. Although a mini summit was held in Oct 2016 in Goa in the sideline of eighth BRICS summit. The theme for this year’s summit is “towards a peaceful, prosperous and sustainable Bay of Bengal region”.
Indian Prime Minster Narendra Modi addressed the summit saying that he bats for more regional connectivity. “India is committed to working with the BIMSTEC member states to enhance regional connectivity,” he said. “There is no country in the region which has not suffered from terrorism and transnational crimes, such as drug trafficking linked to networks of terrorism,” Mr. Modi told the summit, which was inaugurated by Nepal Prime Minister Khadga Prasad Sharma Oli.
Mr Oli also said that BIMSTEC is not a substitute of SAARC and that both should complement each other in their own unique way and help the regions grow.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi also addressed the fact how the Himalayan and Bay of Bengal region gets hit by natural calamities and how each country should come forward and provide relief for the country in distress. “As no single country can move alone for attaining peace, prosperity and development, we need to collaborate and cooperate with each other in this interconnected world,” he said.
Mr. Modi also said he is ready to host a conference on narcotics related topic under the BIMSTEC framework.
Mr. Modi said that India was committed to enhance national knowledge network in the field of digital connectivity in Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, Bhutan and Nepal. As India will be hosting International Buddhist Conclave in August 2020, he invited all the members of BIMSTEC to attend event as guest of honour.
Though some people view BIMSTEC as India’s “rebound relationship” after their failure of integrating with SAARC. “As former Indian ambassador to Myanmar Rajiv Bhatia once noted that BIMSTEC was at risk of being little more than a ‘rebound relationship’ whenever New Delhi fails to pursue regional integration through SAARC,” Constantino Xavier, fellow at Brookings India, wrote in a paper in 2018 for Carnegie India.
BIMSTEC still plays a very important role for India keeping China in mind. It is important for India to keep China out of reach in Bay of Bengal so that it won’t have any entry passage in the Indian ocean. China has been joining hands with all BIMSTEC members except India and Bhutan through the Belt and Road Initiative.
BIMSTEC could allow India to push a constructive agenda to counter Chinese investments, and instead follow best practices for connectivity projects based on recognised international norms. The Chinese projects are widely seen as violating these norms.
Amid Chinese indirect intervention, there have been suggestions to engage BIMSTEC with ASEAN, (Bangladesh-Bhutan-India-Nepal) BBIN, IORA (Indian Ocean Rim Association), MGC (Mekong Ganga Cooperation) and CMLV (Cambodia-Myanmar-Laos-Vietnam).
As BIMSTEC mets, K Yhome, senior fellow with ORF, said, “The irony may be that BIMSTEC was in fact once a well-connected subregion through the littorals’ waterways and seaports up until the middle of the 20th century. Indeed, it may be said that current efforts are merely a ‘rediscovery’ of the old routes that once connected these nations.”
Image Credit: BIMSTEC Official Website