A three-day summit of the Bay of Bengal Initiative for Multi-sectoral Scientific, Technical and Economic Cooperation (BIMSTEC) was held in New Delhi on 11 November 2008. Heads of state or government from seven South Asian and South East Asian member countries attended the Summit. This was the second summit of the grouping after its first summit in Bangkok in 2004. The summit had leaders from Bhutan, India, Thailand, Nepal, Myanmar, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh pledging to cooperate on several key issues affecting the region.

The Summit was attended by Indian Prime Minister, Dr. Manmohan Singh; Chief Adviser of Bangladesh, Fakhruddin Ahmed; Prime Minister of Bhutan, Jigmi Y Thinley; Prime Minister of Myanmar, Thein Sein; Prime Minister of Nepal, Pushpa Kamal Dahal ‘Prachanda’; President of Sri Lanka, Mahinda Rajapaksa; and Prime Minister of Thailand, Somchai Wongsawat.

Great Potential

The Bay of Bengal Initiative for Multi-Sectoral Technical and Economic Cooperation (BIMSTEC) is a great idea that is shared by each of the seven member nations who have seen their history; existence and ethos spun around one of the most beautiful water bodies of the world, the Bay of Bengal.

Established in 1997, the combined economy of the bloc is US$810 billion and it shares 22 percent of world population and 3.64 percent of surface area. The strength of BIMSTEC lies in the fact that unlike the South Asia Association of Regional Cooperation (SAARC), BIMSTEC is free from all security or political baggage.

Seeking closer integration of the member-countries, BIMSTEC sought steps for enhancing integration of the member countries spread across South Asia and South East Asia. The summit took up specific issues such as trade, counter-terrorism, trans-national crimes, tourism, fisheries and public health. The leaders took stock of the progress made in the proposed Free Trade Agreement between BIMSTEC member states. The current trade amongst BIMSTEC countries is around US$20 billion. BIMSTEC leaders also reviewed the progress made towards a free trade agreement (FTA) among the member-countries. A framework agreement for the FTA, which covers goods, services and investment, was signed at the first summit in 2004.

Priority Areas

The BIMSTEC members identified 13 priority areas, mostly economic, which are closely related to one another. The joint statement of the 10th BIMSTEC ministerial meeting also laid stress on poverty alleviation and called for programmes such as the creation of a food bank in the region, flood control, and checking climate change which could spell mass destruction over large tracts in the region, which otherwise remains vulnerable to natural disasters like floods, typhoons and tsunamis, excess or deficient rainfall.

Major Institutions

The summit finalised the plan to set up BIMSTEC Cultural Industries Commission and BIMSTEC Cultural Industries Observatory in Bhutan; BIMSTEC Energy Centre; and BIMSTEC Weather and Climate Centre in India. The BIMSTEC convention on international terrorism, transnational organised crime and illicit drug trafficking are in the cards.

The Summit added ‘Climate Change’ as a new priority area, in addition to the existing areas of cooperation. The gathering also decided to strengthen cooperation in poverty alleviation in the context of challenges to food security and proposed a BIMSTEC Poverty Alleviation Centre in Bangladesh and a food security reserve among BIMSTEC members. The leaders agreed to improve tourism within the BIMSTEC region and worked out a plan to start a BIMSEC Tourism Centre in Nepal. Sri Lanka will house a BIMSTEC Technology Transfer facility to help in sharing of technologies targeted towards micro, small and medium scale enterprises in the region.

In the field of technology, India announced 150 new scholarships to facilitate the sharing of technical know-how in the region. The body also agreed to cooperate in the area of traditional medicine and a BIMSTEC network of national centres was proposed for coordination in traditional medicine. BIMSTEC agreed to enhance collaborative efforts to jointly face the current global financial crisis. To enhance people to people contact, the summit authorized India to take the lead in establishing a BIMSTEC network of policy think-tanks in the region.

They also discussed the Transport infrastructure and logistics study done by ADB as an early step towards improving transportation and communication linkages within the region and pledged to remove all bottlenecks. The member countries agreed to cooperate in the energy sector and the Energy Ministers conference will be convened shortly. A permanent secretariat for BIMSTEC is in cards and a joint working group was set up.

Indian Interest

India is aware that any progress in BIMSTEC will have a positive impact on its northeastern region. The economic transformation of the region from its underdeveloped status to India’s gateway to the East is critically linked to the advancement of the BIMSTEC bloc. That is why is India is keen to transform BIMSTEC into a prosperous regional union and hasten its own integration within it and secure a greater say, both regionally and globally.

On the whole, the summit succeeded in outlining a detailed role for all BIMSTEC members with the joint declaration clearly specifying areas such as agriculture, climate change, technology, poverty, food security, transport, crime and terrorism, culture, tourism and energy for joint action. Clearly the Summit took more than baby steps and the results may be worth watching.