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- Nepal ambassador to India has said that BIMSTEC cannot be a substitute for SAARC.
- The ambassador has also said that SAARC had nothing to do with bilateral disputes and that the region cannot grow rapidly without cooperation among South Asian nations.
- The debate whether BIMSTEC can be an alternative to SAARC or not started in 2016 when India boycotted SAARC summit in Pakistan in the wake of Uri attack.Other SAARC countries too showed solidarity and boycotted the SAARC Summit.
- Further,India had invited BIMSTEC countries to participate in the Outreach Summit of the BRICS Forum in Goa pushing the debate that India is looking BIMSTEC as an alternative to SAARC.
- Bay of Bengal Initiative for Multi-Sectoral Technical and Economic Cooperation (BIMSTEC) is an international organisation involving a group of countries in South Asia and Southeast Asia.The organisation came into existence in 1997 with Bangkok declaration.
- It consists of Bangladesh, India, Myanmar, Sri Lanka, Thailand, Bhutan and Nepal are its members.It is headquartered in Dhaka,Bangladesh.
- The main objective of BIMSTEC is technological and economic co-operation among south Asian and southeast Asian countries along the coast of the Bay of Bengal.
- The South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation(SAARC) was established with the signing of the SAARC Charter in Dhaka on 8 December 1985.
- SAARC comprises of eight Member States namely Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan and Sri Lanka.The Secretariat of SAARC is in Kathmandu,Nepal.
- The objectives of the Association as outlined in the SAARC Charter are (a)to promote the welfare of the peoples of South Asia and to improve their quality of life (b)to accelerate economic growth, social progress and cultural development in the region and (d)to promote and strengthen collective self-reliance among the countries of south Asia.




