{"id":189285,"date":"2022-06-07T20:50:55","date_gmt":"2022-06-07T15:20:55","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blog.forumias.com\/?p=189285"},"modified":"2022-06-07T20:52:29","modified_gmt":"2022-06-07T15:22:29","slug":"a-silver-moment-to-propel-a-bay-of-bengal-dream","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/a-silver-moment-to-propel-a-bay-of-bengal-dream\/","title":{"rendered":"A \u2018silver\u2019 moment to propel a Bay of Bengal dream"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

News:<\/strong> On June 6, the Bay of Bengal Initiative for Multi-Sectoral Technical and Economic Cooperation (BIMSTEC) has completed 25 years<\/p>\n

Background<\/strong><\/h5>\n

It was launched as a modest grouping of Bangladesh, India, Sri Lanka and Thailand), with the acronym, BIST-EC <\/strong>as a result of the Bangkok Declaration 1997.<\/p>\n

Later on, three countries (Nepal, Bhutan and Myanmar) and it became the Bay of Bengal Initiative for Multi-Sectoral Technical and Economic Cooperation (BIMSTEC).<\/p>\n

Importance of the Grouping<\/strong><\/h5>\n

It is an instrument of regional cooperation and integration between South Asia and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN)<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

Resurgence <\/strong><\/h5>\n

The far-reaching decisions which were taken in Goa paved the way for the institution\u2019s reform.<\/strong> Further, the Goa decisions took final shape in Kathmandu summit<\/strong> in 2018. Further, The Colombo summit <\/strong>in March 2022 finally approved the plans of rejuvenation.<\/p>\n

Key achievements<\/strong><\/h5>\n

It has crafted a new Charter<\/strong>. The charter spells out the grouping\u2019s vision, functions of its constituent parts, and has secured a legal personality.<\/p>\n

It has prioritised the sectors of cooperation<\/strong>. The sectors have been reduced from 14 to 7. Each member-state will serve as the lead country for the assigned sector.<\/p>\n

It has taken measures to strengthen the Secretariat.<\/p>\n

Unlike the SAARC, post-2014, BIMSTEC has continued to hold its summits and meetings of Foreign Ministers.<\/strong><\/p>\n

The grouping has progressed in combating terrorism, and forging security cooperation<\/strong>. It has created mechanisms and practices for the better management of humanitarian assistance and disaster relief.<\/p>\n

The grouping has established institutions<\/strong> such as an Energy Centre and the Centre on Weather and Climate to push sectoral cooperation forward.<\/p>\n

What are the challenges?<\/strong><\/h5>\n

BIMSTEC has been hindered by the burdens of South Asia Countries. Therefore, it grew slowly.<\/p>\n

In the 21st century, the strategic contestation<\/strong> between the United States<\/strong> and China<\/strong> defines the region\u2019s geopolitics and geo-economics. It is creating new tensions and opportunities.<\/p>\n

There are internal tensions<\/strong> between member countries. For example, the Rohingyas influx<\/strong> into Bangladesh, Myanmar\u2019s military coup<\/strong> has led to its virtual boycott<\/strong> by a large segment of the international community; and Sri Lanka is facing political and economic crisis.<\/p>\n

It has failed to produce a comprehensive Free Trade Agreement (FTA)<\/strong> despite signing of the Framework Agreement before 18 years.<\/p>\n

Despite summit declarations<\/strong>, the concerned ministers and officials have failed to expedite action.<\/p>\n

There has been poor connectivity<\/strong> with respect to infrastructure (roads, railways, air, river, and coastal shipping links); energy; the digital and financial domain; and institutions. This has been despite the adoption of the Master Plan for Connectivity<\/strong> supported by the Asian Development Bank (ADB).<\/p>\n

The bilateral initiatives<\/strong>, for example, taken by India, Bangladesh, Nepal and Bhutan to strengthen transport links have also been delayed inordinately.<\/p>\n

The grouping has not started working upon the Blue Economy.<\/p>\n

The members have not engaged business chambers<\/strong> and corporate leaders <\/strong>with activities of BIMSTEC. Therefore, the grouping remains in the hands of officials and experts.<\/p>\n

Way Forward<\/strong><\/p>\n

The Heads of state<\/strong> and government<\/strong> need to assert their authority to fulfil the FTA obligations.<\/p>\n

More financial resources are needed for greater regional connectivity. The BIMSTEC Development Fund can be launched.<\/p>\n

The vision of the Bay of Bengal Community (BOBC)<\/strong> should be realized. It has the potential to play a pivotal role to deepen linkages between South Asia and Southeast Asia in this Indo-Pacific century<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

The collaboration can be done with the Indo-Pacific Economic Framework for Prosperity (IPEF) to accelerate the region\u2019s economic development<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

Three countries have a special responsibility: Bangladesh as the host of the BIMSTEC Secretariat; Thailand as the representative of Southeast Asia; and India as the largest state in South Asia.<\/p>\n

Source:<\/strong> The post is based on an article \u201cA silver moment to propel a Bay of Bengal dream<\/strong>\u201d published in the \u201cThe Hindu<\/strong>\u201d on 7th<\/sup> June 2022<\/strong>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

News: On June 6, the Bay of Bengal Initiative for Multi-Sectoral Technical and Economic Cooperation (BIMSTEC) has completed 25 years Background It was launched as a modest grouping of Bangladesh, India, Sri Lanka and Thailand), with the acronym, BIST-EC as a result of the Bangkok Declaration 1997. Later on, three countries (Nepal, Bhutan and Myanmar)… Continue reading A \u2018silver\u2019 moment to propel a Bay of Bengal dream<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":10328,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1230,9],"tags":[212,10498],"class_list":["post-189285","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-9-pm-daily-articles","category-public","tag-gs-paper-2","tag-the-hindu","entry"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","views":{"total":0,"cached_at":"","cached_date":1704943903},"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/189285","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/10328"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=189285"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/189285\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=189285"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=189285"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=189285"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}