BIMSTEC | 19 Jul 2023

Source: IE

Why in News?

Recently, the first-ever Foreign Ministers’ meeting of the Bay of Bengal Initiative for Multi-Sectoral Technical and Economic Cooperation (BIMSTEC) began in Bangkok, Thailand.

• Areas of coordination challenges were discussed, including food, health and energy security.

What is BIMSTEC?

• About:
  • The BIMSTEC is a regional organisation comprising seven Member States: five deriving from South Asia, including Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Nepal, Sri Lanka and two from Southeast Asia, including Myanmar and Thailand.
  • This sub-regional organisation came into being on 6^th June 1997 through the Bangkok Declaration.
  • The BIMSTEC Secretariat is in Dhaka, Bangladesh.
• Institutional Mechanisms:
  • BIMSTEC Summit
  • Ministerial Meeting
  • Senior Officials’ Meeting
  • BIMSTEC Working Group
  • Business Forum & Economic Forum
• Cooperation:
  • Cooperation within the BIMSTEC had initially focused on six sectors in 1997 (trade, technology, energy, transport, tourism, and fisheries) and expanded in 2008 to other areas.
  • In 2021, a reorganization led to each of the Member States leading certain sectors.
  • India focuses on security, along with counterterrorism and transnational crime, disaster management and energy.

What is the Significance of BIMSTEC?

• Significant Global Weightage:
  • Around 22% of the world’s population live in the seven countries around the Bay of Bengal, with a combined GDP close to USD 2.7 trillion.
  • All seven countries have sustained average annual rates of growth between 3.4% and 7.5% from 2012 to 2016.
  • A fourth of the world’s traded goods across the bay every year.
• Regional Strategic Incentives:
  • The BIMSTEC countries have strategic incentives in the growth of BIMSTEC.
  • For instance, Bangladesh sees BIMSTEC as a platform to elevate its status beyond being a small state on the Bay of Bengal.
  • Sri Lanka views it as an opportunity to connect with Southeast Asia and become a hub for the wider Indo-Pacific Region.
  • Nepal and Bhutan aim to connect with the Bay of Bengal region to overcome their landlocked geographic positions.
  • Myanmar and Thailand see deeper connections with India and BIMSTEC as a means to access India's rising consumer market, balance China's influence in the region, and develop alternatives to China's inroads into Southeast Asia.
  • It allows for economic integration, regional security cooperation, and leveraging shared values and histories for peace and development.
• Importance for India:
  • BIMSTEC not only connects South and Southeast Asia but also encompasses the ecologies of the Great Himalayas and the Bay of Bengal.
  • India sees BIMSTEC as a natural platform to prioritize its foreign policy objectives of "Neighborhood First" and "Act East."
    • The significance of BIMSTEC was highlighted when some of its member countries supported India's call for a boycott of the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) summit in Islamabad, leading to its postponement.
    • India claimed victory in isolating Pakistan through this move.
• Crucial Against Assertive China:
  • The Bay of Bengal is crucial for an increasingly assertive China in maintaining its access route to the Indian Ocean.
    • As China has undertaken a massive drive to finance and build infrastructure in South and Southeast Asia through the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) in almost all BIMSTEC countries, except Bhutan and India, BIMSTEC is a new battleground in the India-China battle for dominance.
  • BIMSTEC can 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.
• Preserve Peace and Freedom of Navigation:
  • The Bay of Bengal can be showcased as open and peaceful, contrasting it with China’s behavior in the South China Sea.
  • It can develop codes of conduct that preserve freedom of navigation and apply existing law of the seas regionally.
  • Moreover, BIMSTEC can stem the region’s creeping militarisation by instituting, for instance, a Bay of Bengal Zone of Peace that seeks to limit any bellicose behavior of extraregional power.

How BIMSTEC is Different from SAARC?

Way Forward

• BIMSTEC member countries should focus on deepening cooperation in various sectors such as trade, technology, energy, transport, tourism, fisheries, security, counterterrorism, disaster management, and energy.
• The organization should work towards implementing existing agreements and exploring new avenues for collaboration.
• BIMSTEC should work towards enhancing trade facilitation, reducing barriers, and promoting economic integration among member countries.
• The organization should explore opportunities for a free trade agreement (FTA) to boost regional trade and investment.