17th BIMSTEC Ministerial Meeting

The Seventeenth Bay of Bengal Initiative for Multi-Sectoral Technical and Economic Cooperation (BIMSTEC) Ministerial Meeting was held virtually in Colombo, Sri Lanka on 01 April 2021 to finalize preparations for the Fifth BIMSTEC Summit to be held in Sri Lanka in 2021.

  • The meeting endorsed the BIMSTEC Master Plan for Transport Connectivity for adoption at the next BIMSTEC Summit and three MoUs / Agreements for signing at the next BIMSTEC Summit.
  • The meeting took note that the BIMSTEC Centre for Weather and Climate, being hosted in India, is fully functional with the state of the art facilities to provide Disaster Early Warnings.

About BIMSTEC

  • It is a regional organization comprising seven Member States lying in the littoral and adjacent areas of the Bay of Bengal constituting a contiguous regional unity.
  • Headquartered in Dhaka, it came into being on 6 June 1997 through the Bangkok Declaration.

Objectives

  • Creating an enabling environment for the rapid economic development of the sub-region.
  • Encouraging the spirit of equality and partnership.
  • Promoting active collaboration and mutual assistance in the areas of common interests of the member countries
  • Accelerating support for each other in the fields of education, science, and technology, etc.

Significance

  • It constitutes a bridge between South and South East Asia and represents a reinforcement of relations among these countries.
  • BIMSTEC has also established a platform for intra-regional cooperation between SAARC and ASEAN members.
  • The BIMSTEC region is home to around 1.5 billion people which constitute around 22% of the global population with a combined gross domestic product (GDP) of 2.7 trillion economy.

India and BIMSTEC

  • India has been pushing for making BIMSTEC a vibrant forum as various regional initiatives under SAARC were not moving forward primarily due to non-cooperation from Pakistan.
  • It is important for the connectivity projects in and around the Bay of Bengal region. This could help unleash the potential of the seven northeastern states in India.
  • India has already invested in the India-Myanmar-Thailand Trilateral Highway, the Kaladan Multimodal Transit Transport Project and the BIMSTEC Motor Vehicle Agreement.
  • Being the largest and most developed country in this grouping, the onus of steering the organisation forward lies with India. For India, BIMSTEC is a natural choice to take forward key foreign policy priorities like 'Neighbourhood First' and 'Act East' as the bloc enjoys the strength of connecting South and South-East Asia.

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