{"id":16896,"date":"2023-07-18T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2023-07-18T00:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/current_affairs\/uncategorized\/18-07-2023\/bimstec-grouping-relevance-concerns\/"},"modified":"2025-07-10T18:24:04","modified_gmt":"2025-07-10T12:54:04","slug":"bimstec-grouping-relevance-concerns","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/current-affairs\/18-07-2023\/bimstec-grouping-relevance-concerns","title":{"rendered":"BIMSTEC Grouping: Relevance & Concerns"},"content":{"rendered":"

BIMSTEC Grouping: Relevance & Concerns<\/u><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/h2>\n

Syllabus: GS2\/ Important International Institutions<\/strong><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/h3>\n

In Context<\/u><\/strong><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/h3>\n
    \n
  • The first-ever Foreign Ministers\u2019 meeting of the <\/span><\/span><\/span>Bay of Bengal Initiative for Multi-Sectoral Technical and Economic Cooperation (BIMSTEC)<\/strong><\/span><\/span><\/span> began in Bangkok, Thailand.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n

    BIMSTEC<\/u><\/strong><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/h3>\n
      \n
    • About:<\/strong><\/span><\/span><\/span>\n
        \n
      • BIMSTEC is a regional organisation that was established in 1997 with the signing of the <\/span><\/span><\/span>Bangkok Declaration.<\/strong><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/li>\n
      • Initially known as <\/span><\/span><\/span>BIST-EC (Bangladesh-India-Sri Lanka-Thailand Economic Cooperation).<\/strong><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/li>\n
      • The organisation is now known as <\/span><\/span><\/span>BIMSTEC<\/strong><\/span><\/span><\/span> and comprises <\/span><\/span><\/span>seven members, with Myanmar joining towards the end of 1997<\/strong><\/span><\/span><\/span>, and<\/span><\/span><\/span> Bhutan and Nepal in 2004.<\/strong><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
          \n
        • Permanent Secretariat: <\/strong><\/span><\/span><\/span>Dhaka, Bangladesh.<\/span><\/span><\/span>\n
            \n
          • Leadership is rotated in alphabetical order of country names.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n

            Significance of BIMSTEC<\/u><\/strong><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/h3>\n
              \n
            • Economical Importance: <\/strong><\/span><\/span><\/span>Around 22% of the world\u2019s population live in the seven countries around the Bay of Bengal, with a combined GDP close to $2.7 trillion.\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/span>\n
                \n
              • All seven countries have sustained average annual rates of growth between 3.4% and 7.5% from 2012 to 2016.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n
              • Boosting Connectivity:<\/strong><\/span><\/span><\/span> Projects within the BIMSTEC can help in improving relations with its neighbors.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/li>\n
              • Platform for resolving issues: <\/strong><\/span><\/span><\/span>The platform can help in addressing the challenges like terrorism, coastal security, drug trafficking etc.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/li>\n
              • Freedom of Navigation: <\/strong><\/span><\/span><\/span>This can serve as a transit route between Indian and Pacific nations.\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/li>\n
              • Countering China: <\/strong><\/span><\/span><\/span>This prevents China from becoming the predominant political, military and economic power in the Indian Ocean region.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n

                Importance of BIMSTEC for India<\/u><\/strong><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/h3>\n
                  \n
                • For India, BIMSTEC aligns with its<\/span><\/span><\/span> \u2018Act East\u2019 policy for greater regional cooperation in southeast Asia.\u00a0<\/strong><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/li>\n
                • It could also be seen as aligning with <\/span><\/span><\/span>India\u2019s larger goal to gain trade and security prominence in the Indian Ocean region<\/strong><\/span><\/span><\/span> and to cater to the concept of the \u2018Indo-Pacific\u2019 region, a major focus of Quad countries.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/li>\n
                • India also made efforts to enhance the pace of <\/span><\/span><\/span>BIMSTEC\u2019s progress in recent years.\u00a0<\/strong><\/span><\/span><\/span>\n
                    \n
                  • The BIMSTEC Energy Centre<\/strong><\/span><\/span><\/span> was set up in Bengaluru, along with the BIMSTEC Business Council, a forum for business organisations to promote regional trade.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/li>\n
                  • It aims to <\/span><\/span><\/span>create free-trade and power grid interconnectivity agreements<\/strong><\/span><\/span><\/span>, and a masterplan for transport connectivity in the Bay of Bengal region (adopted at the current summit).<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n
                  • India also made efforts to enhance the pace of<\/span><\/span><\/span> BIMSTEC\u2019s progress in recent years. The BIMSTEC Energy Centre <\/strong><\/span><\/span><\/span>was set up in Bengaluru, along with the BIMSTEC Business Council, a forum for business organisations to promote regional trade.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n

                    BIMSTEC and SAARC<\/u><\/strong><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/h3>\n
                      \n
                    • The idea of BIMSTEC also gained prominence after the<\/span><\/span><\/span> 2016 Uri attack when India was able to get SAARC (South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation) nations <\/strong><\/span><\/span><\/span>on its side to boycott the organisations\u2019 summit, which was to be held in Islamabad, Pakistan.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/li>\n
                    • SAARC and BIMSTEC focus on <\/span><\/span><\/span>geographically<\/strong><\/span><\/span><\/span> overlapping regions<\/strong><\/span><\/span><\/span>. But, they are <\/span><\/span><\/span>not equal alternatives<\/strong><\/span><\/span><\/span>. SAARC is a purely regional organization, whereas BIMSTEC is inter-regional and connects both South Asia and ASEAN.\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/li>\n
                    • Unlike SAARC, which is burdened by <\/span><\/span><\/span>India-Pakistan hostilities<\/strong><\/span><\/span><\/span>, BIMSTEC is relatively free of sharp bilateral disagreements and promises to provide India with a co-operative sphere of its own.\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n

                      Major Concerns<\/u><\/strong><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/h3>\n
                        \n
                      • Despite signing a framework agreement for a<\/span><\/span><\/span> comprehensive Free Trade Agreement (FTA) in 2004<\/strong><\/span><\/span><\/span>, BIMSTEC stands far away from this goal.\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/li>\n
                      • BIMSTEC members have <\/span><\/span><\/span>not adopted a Free Trade Agreement yet<\/strong><\/span><\/span><\/span>, they are involved in multiple bilateral and multilateral free trade, preferential trade and economic cooperation agreements with other countries.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/li>\n
                      • Lack of efficiency and \u201csluggish\u201d pace of BIMSTEC\u2019s progress.<\/strong><\/span><\/span><\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/li>\n
                      • The inconsistency in holding policy making and operational meetings was mentioned earlier.\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/li>\n
                      • BIMSTEC secretariat also s<\/span><\/span><\/span>uffers from inadequate financial and manpower assistance<\/strong><\/span><\/span><\/span> for its operational activities<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/li>\n
                      • The other <\/span><\/span><\/span>disappointment is connectivity<\/strong><\/span><\/span><\/span> \u2014 in infrastructure (roads, railways, air, river, and coastal shipping links), energy, the digital and financial domain, and institutions that bring people closer together for trade, tourism and cultural exchanges<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n

                        Way Ahead<\/u><\/strong><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/h3>\n
                          \n
                        • A<\/span><\/span><\/span> strong political will and collective resolv<\/strong><\/span><\/span><\/span>e are required for BIMSTEC to succeed. This corresponds with India\u2019s Act East policy of extending regional connectivity to nations south-east of it.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/li>\n
                        • BIMSTEC should focus more in the future on new areas such as the blue economy, the digital economy, and promotion of exchanges and links among start-ups and Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs).<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/li>\n
                        • India has to ensure equally sustained political engagement with partners such as Nepal, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh to prevent any domestic political spillover from affecting bilateral and group-level working relationships.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/li>\n
                        • \u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/span>India\u2019s \u201cAct East\u201d and \u201cExtended Neighbourhood\u201d approaches<\/strong><\/span><\/span><\/span> also find consonance with its effort with BIMSTEC to bridge the gaps with nations of SouthEast Asia and Africa and further boost trade relations with them<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
                          \n\n\n\n
                          \n

                          Daily Mains Question<\/u><\/strong><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/h2>\n

                          [Q] <\/strong><\/span><\/span><\/span>How BIMSTEC can play a significant role in changing geopolitics? What are the major challenges and setbacks that need to be overcome for the development across South Asia and Southeast Asia?<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

                          The first-ever Foreign Ministers\u2019 meeting of the Bay of Bengal Initiative for Multi-Sectoral Technical and Economic Cooperation (BIMSTEC) began in Bangkok, Thailand.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":15,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[21],"tags":[28,29],"class_list":["post-16896","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-current-affairs","tag-indian-express","tag-thehindu"],"acf":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16896","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/15"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=16896"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16896\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":16900,"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16896\/revisions\/16900"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=16896"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=16896"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=16896"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}