India is making a big push to connect South Asia with South East Asia through BIMSTEC as a series of initiatives are being put in place beginning with Foreign Ministers meeting here next week ahead of the group’s Summit in Bangkok.
External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar will host the BIMSTEC Ministerial meet here next week and this will be followed by BIMSTEC NSA meet here also in July. India has been taking the lead in organizing NSA level meetings for BIMSTEC as it is the lead group in Counter-Terrorism and Transnational Crime, Disaster Management and Energy in BIMSTEC.
India is planning a mega BIMSTEC Business summit in August which will be the first of its kind and PM Narendra Modi may attend BIMSTEC Summit in Bangkok in September. ET has learnt that the Indian government is planning to set up three BIMSTEC centres of excellence including one on maritime transport – key mode of connectivity between South Asia and SE Asia.
The move comes amid China‘s increasing interests in the Bay of Bengal region with ports under its control in Myanmar and Sri Lanka. ET has learnt that Beijing is eyeing a foothold at a deep-sea port closer to Andaman & Nicobar Islands after Bangladesh did not agree to a Chinese request. China’s attempts to increase presence in the Bay of Bengal has a direct impact on India’s security and its role as the net security provider in the region.
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The Bay of Bengal Initiative for Multi-Sectoral Technical and Economic Cooperation (BIMSTEC) is a regional organization that was established on 06 June 1997 with the signing of the Bangkok Declaration. Initially known as BIST-EC (Bangladesh-India-Sri Lanka-Thailand Economic Cooperation), the organisation is now known as BIMSTEC and comprises seven Member States with the admission of Myanmar on 22 December 1997 and Bhutan and Nepal in February 2004.
The BIMSTEC Charter was signed and adopted during the Fifth BIMSTEC Summit held in virtual format in Colombo on 30 March 2022.
BIMSTEC’s current Secretary General is Indra Mani Pandey, a senior Indian diplomat, who had served as India’s Permanent Representative in Geneva and envoy to Oman in the past.
