Round The World
New Delhi, 5 March 2014
India & BIMSTEC
BOOSTING ECONOMIC TIES
By Prof. Arvind Kumar
(Dept. of Geopolitics & Intl Relations, Manipal Univ)
The recently-concluded third summit of the seven-member
BIMSTEC (Bay of Bengal Initiative for Multi-Sectoral Technical and Economic
Cooperation) at Nay Pyi Taw, Myanmar
seems to have proven that inter-regional cooperation will be intensified in the
foreseeable future.
Established in 1997 with four countries, Bangladesh, India,
Sri Lanka and Thailand as BIST–EC it got evolved in due course
and saw the inclusion of Myanmar
in December 1997 to mainly tap the synergies of land and maritime contiguity.
Later on, Nepal and Bhutan joined
in February 2004 to become part of the larger initiative of inter-regional
cooperation. All the seven members share both land and maritime boundaries and
the mandate of BIMSTEC has mainly been to emerge as a strong organization in
different geo-political and geo-economic settings.
Undoubtedly, BIMSTEC provides a unique link between South
Asia and Southeast Asia at the rim of Bay of Bengal.
It was anticipated that the inter-regional grouping will serve as a bridge
between the five SAARC nations and two ASEAN countries. Such bridging would provide
a greater advantage to increase trade among member countries. The BIMSTEC has a
combined GDP of over US $2.5 trillion with a population of 1.3 billion, which
is roughly 21 per cent of the world population. BIMSTEC certainly has a
potential of working in tandem and building upon the traditional links between
its member countries.
Over the years, the areas of cooperation have expanded from
original six to 13 and these are relating to Trade & Investment,
Technology, Energy, Transport & Communication, Tourism, Fisheries,
Agriculture, Cultural Co-operation, Environment and Disaster Management, Public
Health, People-to-People Contact, Poverty Alleviation and Counter-Terrorism and
Transnational Crimes. In due course, greater connectivity through road and rail
transport links would also feature as a major focus if all the areas of
cooperation among member States need to be realized.
Importantly, the BIMSTEC Summits got elevated to Prime
Ministers and Presidents’ level at its first summit held in Bangkok in July 2004. So far, three BIMSTEC
summits have been held-- the second in November 2008 in New
Delhi and the third after a gap of almost six years, with Myanmar assuming
leadership.
Until recently, India was the Chair of BIMSTEC,
which also has a Working Group (BWG) comprising the Bangkok-based Ambassadors
of BIMSTEC member countries and the Director General, International Economic
Relations of Thai Foreign Ministry. The BWG holds regular monthly meetings to
monitor and review progress under various areas of cooperation, which have
greatly helped in understanding the complexities involved.
Given its composition, there is
an ongoing dominant debate whether the BIMSTEC grouping can be transformed into
a vibrant regional entity. Obviously, the member countries would be required to
promote greater cooperation in key areas such as security, energy, trade,
commerce, connectivity in rail-road links and people-to-people contact. The
focus of cooperation should also be in the field of building infrastructure and
identification of other concrete projects. With trade and economic cooperation obviously
being the key in the foreseeable future, the member nations are envisaging an early
conclusion of the BIMSTEC Free Trade Agreement.
It is commonly believed that BIMSTEC
is some sort of an expression and desire shown by India
to promote its Look East Policy of the 1990s, which also finds semblance with Thailand's Look
West Policy. Ultimately, such semblance will help in building a bridge across Asia’s most promising and dynamic environment, which finally
would usher in peace and prosperity in the region.
Notably, over the years, India’s
bilateral relations with each of the member countries of BIMSTEC have
significantly improved. New Delhi
has been able to evolve a robust engagement with each one of them in the
regional context. India has also been working with BIMSTEC
members to improve physical connectivity through various projects such as the India-Myanmar-Thailand Trilateral Highway,
the Kaladan Multimodal Transit Transport Project, the Asian Highway Network,
the ASEAN Master Plan for Connectivity and others. Further, there seems to be a
plan to launch a direct shipping line to Myanmar.
During the deliberation at the recent summit, energy issues
featured prominently, with member States agreeing to connect with each other
through transmission highways and gas and oil pipelines. This apart, opportunities
for cooperation in renewable energy sources will also be explored for enhancing
the cooperation in energy sector.
The role of India in BIMSTEC is going to be very crucial.
In fact, in a number of areas of cooperation, New Delhi has to be proactive and see how
best there can be intensification in every sector. It has shown willingness to
work with its BIMSTEC partners in application of space science in areas such as
resource management and economic development.
Moreover, the member nations need to also work together in
providing the security of sea lanes of communication in the region given that
the threat perceptions emanating from terrorism and transnational crimes are
common to all the seven members. They do realize that to counter the growing threat
of terrorism in the BIMSTEC region there is need for greater urgency for
stronger cooperation.
During the third summit, three separate Memorandum of
Understandings (MoUs) were signed--one on the establishment of Permanent
Secretariat, two on establishment of a BIMSTEC Center for Weather and Climate
and the third on the setting up of a BIMSTEC Cultural Industries Commission and
BIMSTEC Cultural Industries Observatory.
Notably, the Nay Pyi Twi Declaration has brought out a
number of areas for cooperation among the member States with a greater focus on
the BIMSTEC FTA, over which there are apprehensions. It needs to be emphasized
here that the BIMSTEC FTA will be much more comprehensive in scope covering
trade in goods as well as services and investment. The other existing mechanism
such as South Asia Free Trade Area Agreement confines only to trade in goods.
There is renewed hope that the inter-regional grouping in
the form of BIMSTEC will have a greater potential to increase trade among
member countries by taking advantage of their geographical location in the
region of Bay of Bengal and the eastern coast of the Indian
Ocean. Such vision can only be realized if all the members are
willing to cooperate and also promote the larger interests of the region in all
the identified spheres. India
would require playing a pro-active role and also showing the direction where
the meeting point should be for a win-win situation for all. -- INFA
(Copyright, India
News and Feature Alliance)
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