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BIMSTEC Nears Maritime Pact Deal

BIMSTEC’s new Secretary General, Indra Mani Pandey called for the contribution of all member countries of the grouping to work together in all sectors….reports Asian Lite News

BIMSTEC’s new Secretary General, Indra Mani Pandey, said on Thursday that an agreement on cooperation in maritime transport is expected to be finalised between member countries – Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Myanmar, Nepal, Sri Lanka, and Thailand – at the grouping’s upcoming summit in Thailand this year.

on the sidelines of the ongoing Raisina Dialogue, Pandey, who assumed his office earlier this year, said ANI that “…My priority as secretary-general is to make sure that the decisions taken by the member states are implemented well. It’s the member states who decide the priority areas for cooperation.”

Pandey called for the contribution of all member countries of the grouping to work together in all sectors. The vast agenda of regional cooperation of BIMSTEC is currently centred around 7 sectors, with each member state playing lead role for one sector.

While Bangladesh leads the sector of Trade, Investment and Development including Blue Economy, Bhutan leads the sector of Environment and Climate Change including Mountain Economy, India leads the Security sector, including maritime, space, cyber and energy security as well as CTTC and Disaster Management. Myanmar leads the sector of Agriculture and Food Security, including fisheries and livestock while Nepal leads People-to-People Contact sector, including culture and tourism. Sri Lanka leads the Science, Technology and Innovation sector including Health and Thailand leads the sector of connectivity.

“One agreement on cooperation in maritime transport which has been finalized and negotiated. It’s just waiting for adoption by the member states at the next summit… The 6th summit of BIMSTEC is expected to take place this year. Thailand is the chair…” Pandey said.

The sixth BIMSTEC summit scheduled to take place in 2024 in Thailand.

For India, the BIMSTEC regional forum acts as a convergence of its “Neighbourhood First” policy, or “Act East” outlook and the interests of the Indian Ocean.

At a session titled ‘The BIMSTEC Parley: Inclusive Growth and Sustainable Development’ participants discussed the significance of the grouping to connect multiple countries and highlighted the cooperation at the international level for the same.

The panel examined how the BIMSTEC countries can intensify their internal and external partnerships.

Tshering Dorji, Director of SELISE Digital Platforms in Bhutan, while addressing the Inclusive Growth and Sustainable Development highlighted that his country faces challenges in connectivity on the international link adding that discussions on the issue are ongoing with Bangladesh and India to get additional connectivity from Bangladesh through India.

“We are facing challenges on the international link and there Bhutan is already at an advanced stage of discussion with Bangladesh and India to get additional connectivity from Bangladesh through India. So this cooperation at a small level within BIMSTEC to improve digital infrastructure,” he said.

“While lot of things are being done in the digital sector in all the countries, we should also be mindful that there are a lot of people in our region who are digitally illiterate. And the digital gap is a big issue that we should be mindful of. And providing digital literacy classes and awareness on the things that are happening I think is very key,” he added.

Additionally, BIMSTEC Secretary General, Indra Mani Pandey called for the contribution of all member counrties of the grouping and asserted that the countries should work together in all sectors.

“I think while there is a lead country for each of the seven sectors, but it doesn’t mean that other countries don’t contribute or they don’t They don’t have the opportunity to do more work in that sector. It’s just to facilitate initiatives in different sectors that we have, member states have decided on the concept of a lead state. But all the member states work together in each sector. So the cooperation remains at the level of all the states working together,” he said.

Nepal’s Member of Parliament, Swarnim Wagle said that the group nations should take interest in the regional arrangements between the countries in BIMSTEC as they cooperate in terms of trade.

“So if BIMSTEC, if members don’t see an inherent interest through the regional arrangement, those exchanges of preferences or cooperation and specific projects, then they would turn to. So that’s just a fact of trade. So it’s not a question of threat, in my opinion. On riparian issues, there’s a lot to be learned in the Ganges Brahmaputra river basins on how the Mekong collaboration has happened. Again here, given the asymmetric influence of India, you would need Indian cooperation. And India has tended to prefer bilateral arrangements,” he said.

Its potential can be tapped by connecting the countries of the region better to each other and the world, as well as through directing finance to the green transition and the blue economy. This panel examined how the BIMSTEC countries can intensify their internal and external partnerships.

Meanwhile, Raisina Dialogue is India’s flagship conference on geopolitics and geoeconomics, committed to addressing the most challenging issues facing the global community.

The ninth edition of Raisina Dialogue is being held in Delhi from February 21-23. It is being organised by the Ministry of External Affairs in collaboration with the Observer Research Foundation. (ANI)

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BIMSTEC grid connectivity to drive regional growth

Nepal, Bangladesh, Bhutan, India and Sri Lanka from South Asia and Thailand and Myanmar from the South-East Asian region have initiated the study on feasibility of BIMSTEC grid connectivity, writes Prithvi Shrestha

The countries associated with Bay of Bengal Initiative for Multi-Sectoral Technical and Economic Cooperation (BIMSTEC) come from South and South East Asian regions but they have aspirations to be inter-connected with electricity transmission lines.

Nepal, Bangladesh, Bhutan, India and Sri Lanka from South Asia and Thailand and Myanmar from the South-East Asian region are represented in the inter-regional grouping—BIMSTEC.

Some of these countries are bilaterally connected with the power transmission lines but no regional or inter-regional transmission line has been realised yet among these countries.

Now, these countries have initiated the study on feasibility of BIMSTEC grid connectivity.  “The Asian Development Bank (ADB) has been given the task of carrying out technical evaluation of power grid infrastructure in each member countries,” Dirghyu Kumar Shrestha, chief of transmission directorate at Nepal Electricity Authority (NEA), the state-owned entity with monopoly in power grid infrastructure in the Himalayan country. “The task was handed over to the ADB about five months ago. It has been mandated to present its report within six to one year.”

According to him, the member countries will be required to provide data for the ADB study. The BIMSTEC countries have formed a BIMSTEC Grid Connectivity Coordinating Committee under which study is being undertaken, according to Nepal’s energy officials.

According to the joint statement issued after third meeting of the BIMSTEC energy ministers in Kathmandu in April last year, the ministers approved establishment of the BIMSTEC Grid Interconnection Coordination Committee to implement the provisions of the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) for establishment of the BIMSTEC Grid Interconnection and its Terms of Reference (ToR) signed by the BIMSTEC countries.

The ministers had also directed the coordination committee to conclude the BIMSTEC Grid Interconnection Master Plan Study with the support of ADB at the earliest.

In August 2018, the countries in the group had signed the MoU for the establishment of the BIMSTEC Grid Interconnection which entered into force in April 2019.

As per the MoU, BIMSTEC countries agreed to develop grid connectivity for power trade to provide reliable, secure and economic electricity supply. They also agreed to develop a transmission tariff framework for trading of electricity among the member countries.

The initiative is in tune with efforts to enhance the sub-regional connectivity among Bangladesh, Bhutan, India and Nepal (BBIN) and BIMSTEC region, including in the area of energy.

Unsurprisingly, Nepal, India and Bangladesh are working to sign a tripartite agreement to enable export of 40MW of power to Bangladesh from Nepal through Indian territory as part of sub-regional cooperation, according to Nepali officials.   During the visit of Nepal’s Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal to India in May-June, New Delhi agreed to facilitate export of power from Nepal to Bangladesh through the existing transmission infrastructure of India.

The India Narrative earlier reported that negotiation on tariff between Nepal and Bangladesh remains to be concluded.

Despite the aspiration for grid integration among BIMSTEC, several challenges remain. According to a report ‘BIMSTEC Energy Outlook-2035’ prepared by  the US-funded South Asia Regional Initiative for Energy Integration (SARI/EI) in 2021, the energy trade infrastructure between South Asia and SouthEast Asia remains weak.

Within BIMSTEC, power grid interconnections are currently operational between India and Nepal, India and Bangladesh, India and Bhutan and Myanmar and Thailand.

There is an 11kV line from India, which supplies power to Myanmar’s border town of Tamu. However, the quantum of supply is very low, usually limited to a maximum of 3MW, the report says. Similarly, Tachileik, a town on the Myanmar border is supplied with electricity from Chaing Rai in Thailand.

Consequently, power grid interconnections in BIMSTEC are planned to be strengthened and expanded.  Nepal and India currently have a single cross border power line with capacity of 1,000MW while four high capacity cross border power lines have been planned.

According to the report, two 400kV cross border power lines have been planned between Bhutan and India and a 765kV power line between India and Bangladesh is also in the pipeline.

There is a plan to construct an overhead transmission line, from Madurai in India to Anuradhapura in Sri Lanka, with a planned capacity of up to 1000 MW.

Sri Lankan Power and Energy Minister, Kanchana Wijesekara wrote on twitter on June 5 that regional energy integration with grid connectivity between Sri Lanka and India will be implemented by 2030.

Thailand and Myanmar had signed a MoU on energy in July 1997 in order to develop a partnership to purchase 1500 MW of electricity from Myanmar. However, the MoU expired in 2010 without any progress on the planned projects.

Grid connectivity in the BIMSTEC region, according to the SARI/EI report, will provide access to cheaper and diverse power sources.  With cross border electricity trade, it becomes possible for countries to access cheaper generation sources in neighbouring countries.

“Regional energy cooperation allows BIMSTEC member states with surplus electricity to sell to other Member States that require such energy, in a commercially profitable manner,” the report says.

Due to the difference in time zones, there is a diversity in the exact time of peak demand among the BIMSTEC member states. “This offers the possibility of meeting peak demand with less peak generation capacity coupled with cross border electricity trade, instead of each country trying to meet peak demand entirely on its own,” the report says.

However, they have a long way to go before benefiting from grid connectivity as even bilateral grid connectivity between the member countries has not been robust.  “Once India and Sri Lanka are connected with the grid, a mechanism can be developed where Nepal can sell the power to Sri Lanka,” said Shrestha, chief of transmission directorate at NEA. “Nepal can deliver a certain quantity of power to India while India can provide equivalent power to Sri Lanka from an Indian power substation close to Sri Lanka.”

According to Nepali officials and experts, India has a big role to play to facilitate the electricity trade among the BIMSTEC members as it is the biggest market for power and a big territory sitting in the middle of member countries which has to make its transmission infrastructure available to ensure trading of power among the member countries.

“While the member countries need to build high capacity transmission lines to enable large scale trading of power, creating an enabling environment for small scale transmission of power through the existing infrastructure is necessary to build confidence among the member countries that trading of large scale power is feasible,” Sher Singh Bhat, vice-chairperson of Nepal Energy Foundation, a non-government organisation working in the field of access to energy told India Narrative.

He added: “When power trade starts to take place even in limited quantum and legal hurdles are relaxed, it will also give boost to the efforts to invest more in transmission connectivity”.

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MEA Secy East attends BIMSTEC, EAS meetings

The Bay of Bengal Initiative for Multi-Sectoral Technical and Economic Cooperation grouping conducted its fifth summit on March 30, 2022, in Colombo, Sri Lanka…reports Asian Lite News

Ministry of External Affairs Secretary (East) Saurabh Kumar on Wednesday attended BIMSTEC Senior Officials’ Meeting as well as participated in the East Asia Summit (EAS) Senior Officials’ Meeting.

Taking to social media and informing this MEA spokesperson Arindam Bagchi tweeted “Secretary East @AmbSaurabhKumar attended the BIMSTEC Senior Officials’ Meeting hosted virtually by Chair Thailand today. SOM made important recommendations to strengthen BIMSTEC for approval at the 19th BIMSTEC Ministerial Meeting to be held tomorrow.” BIMSTEC, the Bay of Bengal Initiative for Multi-Sectoral Technical and Economic Cooperation, is a regional organization connecting South Asia and Southeast Asia. Established in 1997, this interregional body aims to improve economic cooperation among its member countries, which include India, Bangladesh, Bhutan, Myanmar, Nepal, Sri Lanka, and Thailand.

With a core objective to enhance economic ties, BIMSTEC is poised to usher in a new era of regional cooperation and pave the way for a more prosperous future for its member nations. The Bay of Bengal Initiative for Multi-Sectoral Technical and Economic Cooperation (BIMSTEC) celebrated its 25th anniversary on June 6 2022.

Unlike the SAARC, Bay of Bengal Initiative for Multi-Sectoral Technical and Economic Cooperation has continued to organise summits and meetings of Foreign Ministers beyond 2014. BIMSTEC has hosted five conferences so far, but the Indian Ocean Rim Association (IORA) has only convened one since its inception in 1997. It has now decided to hold regular summits every two years.

The Bay of Bengal Initiative for Multi-Sectoral Technical and Economic Cooperation grouping conducted its fifth summit on March 30, 2022, in Colombo, Sri Lanka.

The theme of the fifth summit is “Towards a Resilient Region, Prosperous Economies, and Healthy People.” This reflects the current priorities of the member states and the efforts of BIMSTEC to help them deal with the economic and development consequences of the COVID-19 pandemic.

The main outcome of the fifth summit was the adoption and signing of the BIMSTEC Charter, which formalises the grouping into an organisation comprised of member states that are coastal and dependent on the Bay of Bengal.

The fifth summit also saw significant progress in the Bay of Bengal Initiative for Multi-Sectoral Technical and Economic Cooperation connectivity agenda, with leaders adopting the “Master Plan for Transport Connectivity,” which lays out a framework for future connectivity-related activities in the region.

“Secretary (East) @AmbSaurabhKumar participated in the East Asia Summit (EAS) Senior Officials’ Meeting today, chaired by Indonesia (EAS Chair),” tweeted Bagchi.

The East Asia Summit is the Indo-Pacific’s prime forum for strategic dialogue at which all key partners meet to analyze political, security, and economic concerns faced by the Indo-Pacific.

This forum possesses a major role to play in advancing closer regional cooperation. The East Asia Summit (EAS) is a regional forum organized every year by the leaders of, originally 16 nations in the East Asian, Southeast Asian, and South Asian regions, based on the ASEAN Plus Six mechanism.

The Vice President of India, Jagdeep Dhankhar addressed the 17th East Asia Summit (EAS) in Phnom Penh, Cambodia held in November 2022.

India’s Vice President emphasized the role of the EAS mechanism in promoting free, open and inclusive Indo-Pacific with freedom of navigation and overflight. (ANI)

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BIMSTEC provides potential for greater cooperation

With 21.7 per cent of the world’s population and combined GDP of $ 3.8 trillion, the BIMSTEC has potential to be an influential engine of economic growth….reports Asian Lite News

The Bay of Bengal Initiative for Multi-Sectoral Technical and Economic Cooperation (BIMSTEC) is an international organisation of seven South Asian and Southeast Asian countries, including Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Myanmar, Nepal, Sri Lanka, and Thailand.

The leadership is rotated in alphabetical order of the name of countries. The permanent secretariat of BIMSTEC is in Dhaka, Bangladesh.

It is a cooperative arrangement aimed at synchronising the ‘Look West’ policy of some countries of ASEAN with the ‘Look East/Act East’ policies of certain South Asian countries.

Established in 1997, this year marks the 25th year of the establishment of BIMSTEC.

The organisation offers itself as an alternative regional arrangement to some South Asian countries to the SAARC, which failed to meet for quite some time.

Unlike other regional groups, BIMSTEC is a sector-driven cooperative organisation looking at seven sectors: science, technology and innovation; trade and investment; environment and climate change; agriculture and food security; security; people-to-people contacts; and connectivity.

Intra-regional trade in BIMSTEC is around $70 billion that constitutes only 7 per cent of the total global trade of its member countries. With 21.7 per cent of the world’s population and combined GDP of $ 3.8 trillion, the BIMSTEC has potential to be an influential engine of economic growth.

BIMSTEC(India News Network)



The 5th Summit of BIMSTEC was hosted by the Government of Sri Lanka on 30 March, which was the current chair nation of BIMSTEC. Theme of the summit was “Towards a Resilient Region, Prosperous Economies, Healthy People” that highlighted the current priorities of member states, and the concerted efforts by BIMSTEC to develop cooperation activities that support member states’ programmes to deal with the economic and developmental challenges in the Post Covid-19 pandemic era.

During the recent summit, the member countries adopted its Charter which is crucial towards creating an institutional architecture with a new orientation and concrete goals.

Under this Charter, the members will meet once in every two years.

India would provide $1 million to the secretariat to increase its operational budget.

It also agreed to form an eminent persons’ group to prepare a vision document in order to enhance the capacity of the BIMSTEC Secretariat adding that a roadmap should be outlined at the earliest to achieve this goal.

New Delhi further called for a Free Trade Agreement (FTA) among the member countries underlining the necessity for coastal shipping ecosystem and electricity grid interconnectivity, as the necessary components of the evolving shape of BIMSTEC.

An FTA is a good option to enhance intra-regional trade volume. However, issues of trade patterns and complementarities remain hurdles. BIMSTEC members already have either bilateral or regional FTAs in the vicinity, such as the ASEAN FTA involving Thailand and Myanmar; the ASEAN-India FTA; the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP), involving Myanmar and Thailand; ASEAN-India Comprehensive Economic Partnership; South Asian Free Trade Agreement (SAFTA) involving Sri Lanka, India, Nepal, Bangladesh and Bhutan; and the Asia-Pacific Trade Agreement (APTA) involving Bangladesh, India and Sri Lanka. Some of the bilateral FTAs include India’s FTAs with Sri Lanka and Bhutan and a Treaty of Trade with Nepal.



So, going by the web of FTAs touching almost all the member countries, a BIMSTEC FTA should not be difficult.

BIMSTEC member countries had indeed made it a priority since its commencement to enhance trade in goods and services, apart from investments. Although a Framework Agreement was signed in 2004 by establishing a Trade Negotiating Committee, the negotiations are still on.

The principal hurdle has been differences over market access between the two big economies of BIMSTEC: India and Thailand. In 2016, the countries agreed to speed up the negotiations on at least two issues in the FTA: preferential treatment to Least Developed Countries, and push on relaxations in services and investments.

As Thailand would hold the next Chair of the organisation, it is hoped that both India and Thailand will work together to do something concrete to make the FTA a success.

India viewed that the organisation should also increase exchanges between the countries.

The summit adopted the declaration of the Master Plan for Transport Connectivity

that would provide a framework to entrepreneurs and startups, and adopt international norms in the field of trade facilitation.

The Indian Council for Research on International Economic Relations (ICRIER), in collaboration with the Asian Development Bank, will launch an awareness programme in this regard.



Citing Ukraine crisis, India noted that the developments in Europe in the last few weeks have raised a question mark on the stability of the international order. Therefore, it called upon the leaders to strive hard to transform the Bay of Bengal into a bridge of connectivity, prosperity and security. India emphasised for prioritising the collective regional security.

It claimed that without security, it was impossible to ensure the development and prosperity of the region. India reminded that at the grouping’s fourth summit in Kathmandu, a decision had been taken to strengthen the regional legal framework against terrorism, trans-national crimes and non-traditional threats. Some of the common threats faced by BIMSTEC countries include terrorism, organised crime, drug trafficking, human trafficking, illegal migration, and radicalisation.

A Joint Working Group (JWG) on Counterterrorism and Transnational Crime (CTTC) was established to deal with these threats in the Bay of Bengal region. Six sub-groups, each working on a specific aspect of CTTC cooperation, were also formed to report to the JWG.

In 2009, the members signed the BIMSTEC Convention on Cooperation in Combating International Terrorism, Transnational Organised Crime and Illicit Drug Trafficking.

Though awaiting ratification from all members, it provides “each (member-State) has the widest possible measure of mutual assistance in the prevention, investigation, prosecution and suppression of such crimes.”

The BIMSTEC National Security Chiefs’ meetings have been in place since 2017 to give teeth to the monitoring and implementation aspects of the legal frameworks on security.

In this context, the signing of the three BIMSTEC agreements at Colombo to boost cooperation activities captures attention. These include BIMSTEC Convention on Mutual Legal Assistance in Criminal Matters, Mutual Cooperation between Diplomatic Academies/Training Institutions, Mutual Cooperation and Memorandum of Association (MoA) on the Establishment of BIMSTEC Technology Transfer Facility (TTF).

India hoped to move quickly to other similar instruments, so that there could be better coordination between the legal systems.

India is working on extending and expanding the scope of the BIMSTEC scholarship program offered by the Nalanda International University, Rajgir. India also highlighted the role of BIMSTEC Center for Weather and Climate on disaster risk reduction and showed its readiness for contributing USD three million dollars to restart the work of this centre.

Given the level of synergies and complementarities among the member states, it is viable to establish a Bay of Bengal Economic Community at some point. For wider acceptability and entrenchment, it is vital to take the grouping to the level of the people through dialogues.

The formation of the BIMSTEC Network of Policy Think Tanks (RC- BNPTT) for broader regional consultations on policy matters is a praiseworthy move. Having a charter on the lines of other regional groupings like ASEAN, SAARC, and the EU would provide much needed standards. Outreach activities with the UN and other similar organisations like ASEAN for maximum benefit including “recognition, financial assistance, expert assistance, market access etc.” are also worth exploring.

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India beefs up BIMSTEC fund

Indian Prime Minister Modi said that the time has come to make the Bay of Bengal the bridge of connectivity, prosperity and security….reports Asian Lite News

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Wednesday announced that India will provide USD 1 million to the ‘Bay of Bengal Initiative for Multi-Sectoral Technical and Economic Cooperation (BIMSTEC) secretariat to increase its operational budget.

Addressing the fifth BIMSTEC Summit virtually, PM Modi said, “India will provide the (BIMSTEC) secretariat 1 million US dollars to increase its operational budget. It is important to strengthen the capacity of (the BIMSTEC) secretariat. I suggest the Secretary-General create a roadmap for the same.”

He made the announcement in the backdrop of making early progress on the proposal of the BIMSTEC free trade agreement (FTA) to enhance mutual business.

“We should also increase exchanges between entrepreneurs and startups of our countries. Along with this, we should also try to adopt international norms in the field of Trade Facilitation,” said PM Modi.

He said that the time has come to make the Bay of Bengal the bridge of connectivity, prosperity and security.

He said, “Make the Bay of Bengal a bridge of connectivity, a bridge of prosperity, a bridge of security as the region is facing challenges of health and economic security and stressed the need for solidarity and cooperation.”

“I call on all BIMSTEC nations to dedicate themselves to working with new enthusiasm to achieve the goals we achieved together in 1997,” said PM Modi.

Talking about the recent developments in Europe regarding the Russia-Ukraine war, he said, “The recent developments in Europe have raised questions about the stability of the international order. In this context, it has become a greater priority to have regional cooperation.”

He also announced adopting the BIMSTEC charter to develop institution architecture for the group.

“We are working on extending and expanding the scope of the BIMSTEC scholarship program offered by the Nalanda International University. We are also signing a treaty on mutual legal assistance on criminal matters,” said PM Modi.

Emphasizing the BIMSTEC Center for Weather and Climate, Prime Minister said, “The BIMSTEC Center for Weather and Climate is an important organization for cooperation on disaster management, especially disaster risk reduction. I would like your cooperation to make this more active. India is ready to contribute USD three million dollars to restart the work of this centre,” he said.

To strengthen BIMSTEC regional cooperation, he said, “Our region has not remained untouched by today’s challenging global scenario. Our economies, our people, are still suffering the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic.”

Meanwhile, Bhutan Prime Minister Dr Lotay Tshering thanked PM Modi for providing COVID-19 vaccines to the nation.

“I would like to thank PM Modi for sharing COVID-19 vaccines with us, it provided the much-needed protection from COVID-19. More than 90 per cent of our citizens are vaccinated, protection of everyone is still our priority,” said Tshering at the 5th BIMSTEC Summit.

PM Modi also said that the outcome of this landmark summit will write a golden chapter in the history of BIMSTEC as this year marks the 25th year of its establishment of BIMSTEC.

The ‘Bay of Bengal Initiative for Multi-Sectoral Technical and Economic Cooperation (BIMSTEC)’ is a regional multilateral organisation. Its members lie in the littoral and adjacent areas of the Bay of Bengal, constituting a contiguous regional unity. The members include Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Nepal, Sri Lanka, Myanmar and Thailand. (ANI)

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Modi to attend 5th BIMSTEC summit in Lanka  

This is expected to be the main subject of deliberations by Leaders at the Summit, the MEA said…reports Asian Lite News

The Summit Meeting, which is being held in virtual mode, will be hosted by Sri Lanka, the current BIMSTEC chair.

To prepare for the Summit, meetings of BIMSTEC Senior Officials (SOM) will take place on March 28, 2022 followed by meetings of the BIMSTEC Foreign Ministers (BMM) on March 29, 2022, the MEA said.

The Covid pandemic-related challenges, and the uncertainties within the international system that all BIMSTEC members are facing, imparts greater urgency to the goal of taking BIMSTEC technical and economic cooperation to the next level.

This is expected to be the main subject of deliberations by Leaders at the Summit, the MEA said.

The Leaders are also expected to discuss the establishment of basic institutional structures and mechanisms of the group, the MEA added.

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5th BIMSTEC Summit on March 30

BIMSTEC(India News Network)

BIMSTEC is a regional organisation that was established on June 6, 1997, with the signing of the Bangkok Declaration.

To cement economic, trade and security cooperation with friendly neighbouring countries in South Asia, Prime Minister Narendra Modi will attend the fifth summit of Bay of Bengal Initiative for Multi-Sectoral Technical and Economic Cooperation (BIMSTEC) on March 30.

BIMSTEC is a regional organisation that was established on June 6, 1997, with the signing of the Bangkok Declaration.

“The summit meeting, which is being held in virtual mode, will be hosted by Sri Lanka, the current BIMSTEC chair,” the Ministry of External Affairs said on Saturday.

To prepare for the summit, meetings of BIMSTEC Senior Officials (SOM) will take place on March 28, followed by meetings of the BIMSTEC Foreign Ministers (BMM) the next day.

The Covid pandemic related challenges, and the uncertainties within the international system that all BIMSTEC members are facing, imparts greater urgency to the goal of taking BIMSTEC technical and economic cooperation to the next level.

This is expected to be the main subject of deliberations by leaders at the summit.

The leaders are also expected to discuss the establishment of basic institutional structures and mechanisms of the group.

The member countries of BIMSTEC are Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Myanmar, Nepal, Sri Lanka and Thailand.

Being a sector-driven grouping, cooperation within BIMSTEC had initially focused on six sectors in 1997 — trade, technology, energy, transport, tourism, and fisheries — and expanded in 2008 to incorporate agriculture, public health, poverty alleviation, counter-terrorism, environment, culture, people-to-people contact, and climate change.

Subsequently, following steps to rationalize and reorganize sectors and sub-sectors, cooperation was reorganized in 2021.

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BIMSTEC members should enhance engagement in agri-sector: India

Agriculture is one of the most important of the 14 sectors as about 1.7 billion plus people i.e., 22 per cent of the global population lives in BIMSTEC countries…reports Asian Lite News

India, which hosted the 8th meeting of agriculture experts of the Bay of Bengal Initiative for Multi-Sectoral Technical and Economic Cooperation (BIMSTEC) countries, on Tuesday called for enhancing the engagement in agriculture and allied sectors amongst the BIMSTEC member states.

Highlighting the UN Food System Summit 2021 and the transformations that are happening in the agriculture and food systems globally, India’s Secretary, Agricultural Research & Education and Indian Council of Agricultural Research Director General, Dr Trilochan Mohapatra sought enhanced engagement and deepening of cooperation in agriculture and allied sectors amongst the BIMSTEC member states by encouraging the exchange of knowledge, germplasm, students, and experts.

He also emphasised addressing biosafety and biosecurity concerns and promoting digital agriculture along with the trade of technologies for developing resilient agriculture, food systems and value chains, a release said here.

Mohapatra chaired the daylong virtual meeting with Myanmar’s Agriculture, Livestock and Irrigation Ministry’s Deputy Director General, Planning, Dr Thanda Kyi, as the co-chair. Experts in agricultural and people from Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Nepal, Sri Lanka, Myanmar, and Thailand participated in the meeting, the release said.

The BIMSTEC member states appreciated the greater engagement of India offering six slots of scholarships each for Masters and PhD programmes in agriculture and its other initiatives for capacity development and training including the development of seed sectors.

The cooperation in the areas of high impact transboundary diseases of livestock and poultry, aquatic animal diseases and biosecurity in aquaculture, and digitalisation to promote precision farming was also discussed in the meeting.

The BIMSTEC provides a unique link between south and southeast Asia with five countries – Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Nepal, and Sri Lanka from South Asia and Myanmar and Thailand from southeast Asia coming together on one platform for cooperation in 14 key economic and social sectors of the economy.

The BIMSTEC was founded in 1997 with an ambition to pursue mutual trade, connectivity, and cultural, technical, and economic development in the region. Initially, six sectors- trade, technology, energy, transport, tourism, and fisheries were included for sectoral cooperation, which was later expanded to 14 areas of cooperation.

Agriculture is one of the most important of the 14 sectors as about 1.7 billion plus people i.e., 22 per cent of the global population lives in BIMSTEC countries and agriculture & allied activities are central to the economic and social development of the region, the release added.

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‘BIMSTEC a promising regional group in Bay of Bengal’

BIMSTEC has emerged as a promising regional grouping to serve the shared interests of the member states, said PM Modi…reports Asian Lite News

Impressing upon the need to continue to work together in the fight against the pandemic and in collectively overcoming its consequences, Prime Minister Narendra Modi has extended warm greetings on the 24th BIMSTEC Day.

“The people of BIMSTEC are bound by shared history and age old cultural and civillisational linkages. As a manifestation of collective will, BIMSTEC has emerged as a promising regional grouping to fulfil the common aspirations of the people and serve the shared interests of the member states,” he said in his message on the occasion.

The Bay of Bengal Initiative for Multi-Sectoral Technical and Economic Cooperation (BIMSTEC) is a regional organization comprising seven Member States around the Bay of Bengal region viz. Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Nepal, Sri Lanka, Myanmar and Thailand.

PM Modi extends warm greetings on 24th BIMSTEC Day(Twitter)

Ministry of External Affairs Spokesperson, Arindam Bagchi on Sunday tweeted Prime Minister Modi’s Message on the occasion of BIMSTEC Day.

“PM Narendra Modi extends warm greetings on the occasion of 24th BIMSTEC Day. PM Modi acknowledged the progress made by the grouping on several fronts in recent years. He stressed the need to continue to work together in the fight against the pandemic,” Bagchi said in the tweet.

BIMSTEC(India News Network)
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Noting that regional cooperation under BIMSTEC framework has intensified substantially in recent years, PM Modi stated that progress has been made on several fronts including the finalization of the BIMSTEC Master plan for transport connectivity and the text of the BIMSTEC Charter.

Reckoning that the observance of BIMSTEC Day is amidst a difficult phase of the COVID pandemic and an unprecendented challenge and testing time, he called for the need to continue to work together in the fight against the pandemic and in collectively overcoming its consequences.

Commending Sri Lanka, the current Chair of BIMSTEC for providing able leadership to the grouping during this time, the Indian Prime Minister welcomed the new Secretary General of BIMSTEC, Tenzin Lekphell from Bhutan and appreciated the important role played by the BIMSTEC Secretariat.

“I am confident that BIMSTEC will continue to grow and scale new heights of cooperation in our common pursuit of building a secure, peaceful and prosperous Bay of Bengal region,” he said.

Joining the Indian Prime Minister, External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar also underlined the enormous potential of Bay of Bengal cooperation through a tweet message.

“On BIMSTEC Day, underline the enormous potential of Bay of Bengal cooperation. Realising that helps bridge South & South East Asia. Will also contribute to our Act East and Indo-Pacific policies,” the EAM said.(India News Network)

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