BIMSTEC

The Background

The Bay of Bengal Initiative for Multi-Sectoral Technical and Economic Cooperation (BIMSTEC) 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.

This sub-regional organization came into being on 6 June 1997 through the Bangkok Declaration.

It constitutes seven Member States: five deriving from South Asia, including Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Nepal, Sri Lanka, and two from Southeast Asia, including Myanmar and Thailand. Initially, the economic bloc was formed with four Member States with the acronym ‘BIST-EC’ (Bangladesh, India, Sri Lanka and Thailand Economic Cooperation). Following the inclusion of Myanmar on 22 December 1997 during a special Ministerial Meeting in Bangkok, the Group was renamed ‘BIMST-EC’ (Bangladesh, India, Myanmar, Sri Lanka and Thailand Economic Cooperation). With the admission of Nepal and Bhutan at the 6th Ministerial Meeting (February 2004, Thailand), the name of the grouping was changed to ‘Bay of Bengal Initiative for Multi-Sectoral Technical and Economic Cooperation’ (BIMSTEC).

The regional group 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. In the last five years, BIMSTEC Member States have been able to sustain an average 6.5% economic growth trajectory despite global financial meltdown.

Bay of Bengal

The objective of building such an alliance was to harness shared and accelerated growth through mutual cooperation in different areas of common interests by mitigating the onslaught of globalization and by utilizing regional resources and geographical advantages. Unlike many other regional groupings, BIMSTEC is a sector-driven cooperative organization. Starting with six sectors—including trade, technology, energy, transport, tourism and fisheries—for sectoral cooperation in the late 1997, it expanded to embrace nine more sectors—including agriculture, public health, poverty alleviation, counter-terrorism, environment, culture, people to people contact and climate change—in 2008.

Integration in Bay of Bengal

As the largest bay in the world, the Bay of Bengal is of pivotal importance to the countries bordering it. What happens here will impact the whole world. Why? The renewed thrust on Indo-Pacific as witnessed in 2018 is a pointer to that fact.

The bay’s scope is generally defined as a “triangular basin” stretching west to east between Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, and Malaysia. One fourth of the world’s populations live in the seven countries around it, and half a billion people live directly on its coastal rim. The highly populated Bay of Bengal carries a lot of economic promise. With a combined gross domestic product (GDP) close to $3 trillion and despite an adverse global financial environment, all seven countries were able to sustain average annual rates of economic growth between 3.4 and 7.5 percent from 2012 to 2018.

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The bay is rich in untapped natural resources, with some of the world’s largest reserves of gas and other seabed minerals, as well as, it is increasingly believed, oil.
The nutrient input from the Ganges and Brahmaputra rivers ensures that the bay’s waters contain extraordinarily large fishing stocks.
Linking the Indian and Pacific Oceans, the Bay of Bengal occupies a central position in relation to global economic flows in a way that few other regions do.
One fourth of the world’s traded goods cross the Bay of Bengal every year. As a strategic funnel to the Malacca Straits, the region has grown in strategic importance.
For China, the bay is critical to preserving its access route to the Indian Ocean, and for India, it is a crucial avenue for projecting its new naval capabilities.

Yet, despite its status as a key maritime hub in global terms and all its economic promise, the Bay of Bengal’s potential is hamstrung by a lack of close internal economic integration among the countries that call the region home. In terms of economics, connectivity, mobility, and geostrategy, countries adjacent to the Bay of Bengal are less integrated today than they were fifty years ago. Despite its rising economic potential and geostrategic centrality, the region therefore remains largely on the sidelines of key global developments.

The Bay of Bengal is one of the world’s least integrated regions, with low levels of trade, connectivity, and cooperation. The deep divide between India and other countries around the bay hinders their efforts to increase their economic and strategic interdependence.

The Bay of Bengal Initiative for Multi-Sectoral Technical and Economic Cooperation (BIMSTEC), a regional multilateral organization founded in 1997, offers a well-positioned platform to help address these challenges. But BIMSTEC’s mission to deepen regionalism will stand a better chance of succeeding if its members (Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Myanmar, Nepal, Sri Lanka, and Thailand) make the organization a priority, endow it with adequate resources, and enact reforms to strength its capabilities.

In its evolution, BIMSTEC finds many common areas of cooperation with other bodies as well, but it is a distinct forum.

BIMSTEC Guiding Principles

The organization functions as per the founding principles of BIMSTEC as laid down in the Bangkok Declaration of 6 June 1997 and directions given by the Leaders of the Member States.

The founding principles of BIMSTEC are as under:

Cooperation within BIMSTEC will be based on respect for the principle of sovereign equality, territorial integrity, political independence, no-interference in internal affairs, peaceful co- existence and mutual benefit
Cooperation within BIMSTEC will constitute an addition to and not be a substitute for bilateral, regional or multilateral cooperation involving the Member States.

BIMSTEC Mechanism, Bodies, Summits

It is a vibrant system with multiple, active bodies striving to achieve the goals of cooperation across various sectors.

The Bangkok Declaration provides for these insitutionsal mechanisms

Annual Ministerial Meetings, to be hosted by the Member States on the basis of alphabetical rotation
Senior Officials Committee, to meet on a regular basis as and when required
BIMSTEC Working Group, the lower tier of the BIMSTEC process comprising Ambassadors / Representatives from Member States to carry on the work in between Annual Ministerial Meeting
Specialized Task Forces and other mechanisms as deemed necessary by the Senior Officials to be coordinated by Member States, as appropriate

Meetings

BIMSTEC meets regularly at different levels. Each type of Meeting is tasked with unique responsibilities, but is closely interrelated to one another (BIMSTEC Orgnizational Chart). The Country holding the Chairmanship of BIMSTEC is responsible for the conduct of regular meetings, including the BIMSTEC Summit, Ministerial Meeting, Senior Officials’ Meeting and BIMSTEC Working Group Meeting. The main working mechanism of BIMSTEC is categorized as follows:

Policy making bodies

BIMSTEC Summit : This is the highest policy making body in the BIMSTEC process. As per the decision of the 6th BIMSTEC Ministerial Meeting held in Thailand on 8th February 2004, the Summit should be held every two years, as possible. The First Summit Meeting of the Heads of the BIMSTEC Countries was held in Bangkok, Thailand on 31 July 2004. The Second Summit was held on 13 November 2008 in New Delhi. The Third Summit was held in Nay Pyi Taw, Myanmar on 4 March 2014. The fourth was at Kathmandu, Nepal, in August 2018.
Ministerial Meetings : Ministerial Meetings cover the area of foreign affairs (MM) and the area of trade and economic affairs (TEMM). While the Foreign Ministerial Meeting acts as prime mover determining the overall policy, as well as recommendations for the Leaders’ Summit, Trade and Economic Ministerial Meeting monitors the progress in the Trade and Investment Sector as well as FTA policy.
Foreign Ministerial Meetings (MM) : It is the second apex forum of BIMSTEC next to the Summit Meeting of BIMSTEC, and the second highest policy-making body attended by the External/Foreign Ministers of Member States. The Ministerial Meeting is preceded by the Senior Official’s Meeting and is represented by the Senior Official’s (Foreign Secretaries) of the Member States. A representative of Ministry of Trade/Commerce is also inducted in the delegation. The First Ministerial Meeting was on 06 June 1997, at Bangkok, Thailand, and the Fifteenth Ministerial Meeting was on 11 August 2017, at Kathmandu, Nepal.
Trade/Economic Ministerial Meetings (TEMM) : The TEMM consists of the Trade/Economic Ministers of the Member States, assisted by the Senior Trade/Economic Officials Meeting that provides inputs to the Ministerial Meeting. Trade/Economic Ministers Meetings are mandated to follow up and accelerate the implementation of economic activities. To date, five TEMMs have taken place: First Meeting of BIMSTEC TEMM – 07 August 1998, Bangkok, Thailand, Second Meeting of BIMSTEC TEMM – 27 April 2000 in New Delhi, India, Third Meeting of BIMSTEC TEMM – 15 February 2001, Yangon, Myanmar, Fourth Meeting of BIMSTEC TEMM – 7 March 2003, Colombo, Sri Lanka, and Fifth Meeting of BIMSTEC TEMM – 7 February 2004, Phuket, Thailand. The Sixth Meeting of BIMSTEC TEMM – upcoming, Dhaka, Bangladesh.
Operational Bodies : The Senior Officials’ Meeting is divided into the area of foreign affairs (SOM) and the area of trade and economic affairs (STEOM). Permanent secretaries of the foreign affairs and that of trade and economic affairs will be the delegations to their respective forum.
Senior Officials’ Meetings (SOM) : The Senior Officials Meeting (SOM) precedes the Ministerial Meeting and is represented by the Senior Officials of the Foreign Ministries of the Member States at the Foreign Secretary Level. A representative from the Ministry of Commerce /Trade is also inducted in the delegation. The SOM helps the Ministerial Meeting in monitoring and providing overall direction to the BIMSTEC activities. It is therefore the most important policy level organ of the BIMSTEC Grouping reporting ultimately to the Ministerial organ. To date, 16 regular SOMs have been held. The first was on 4-5 June 1997, at Bangkok, Thailand, and the 18th SOM was on 10 August 2017, at Kathmandu, Nepal.
Senior Trade/Economic Officials’ Meetings (STEOM) : The Senior Trade/Economic Officials Meeting (STEOM) is an operational body comprising Senior Officials of the Trade/Commerce Ministry of the Member States and representative from Ministry of Foreign Affairs. This meeting precedes the Ministerial Meeting and reports to the TEMM. To date, the Senior Trade/Economic Officials of BIMSTEC countries have met four times. First was on 26 April 2000, at New Delhi, India, and the fifth was in 2008, at Bangladesh.
Business Forum and Economic Forum : Two forums under the STEOM allow active participation of the private sector. In the Business Forum, private sector representatives from the BIMSTEC Member States meet and discuss various issues. Results from the Business Forum will be forwarded to Economic Forum where the private sector have an opportunity to discuss freely with representatives from the public sector from Member States. The Economic Forum will then report outcomes of its meetings to the STEOM. The last Forum was held in New Delhi.
Coordinating Body : The Chairman of the BWG rotates along with the Chairmanship of the BIMSTEC. The BWG reports to the Senior Officials Meeting (SOM). The Meeting is held about monthly to review the progress of and ensure coordination among different activities. BWG Meetings are being held in the BIMSTEC Secretariat, Dhaka chaired by Nepal.
Expert Group Meeting : The Lead Countries of the 13 priority sectors of cooperation and 15 sub-sectors are to host expert group meetings of their responsible sectors regularly and report the result to the BIMSTEC Working Group in Bangkok (BWG) via respective Embassies to Thailand. The result will then be further reported to the SOM.

New Momentum for Multilateralism

As BIMSTEC marks its twentieth anniversary, a confluence of factors has created an opportunity for the organization to help make the bay region more integrated.

In a more interdependent world, states around the Bay of Bengal are realizing that their national economic and security interests are increasingly tied to the ability to cooperate across borders through regional institutions
Responding to the inroads China has made in the region, India is placing an unprecedented emphasis on strengthening regional connectivity and links with Southeast Asia
Small BIMSTEC countries see regional multilateralism as a potential check on the rising capabilities of China, India, and major external powers

Future strengthening

The confluence of BIMSTEC members’ respective national interests in support of connectivity and their willingness to invest more in BIMSTEC has created an opportunity to empower the organization to help revitalize the Bay of Bengal as a region and as a community. Commenting on BIMSTEC’s track record and “missed opportunities” since its founding in 1997, the foreign minister of Bangladesh, Abul Hassan Mahmood Ali, recently noted that “it is time to look back, reflect and review our past performances; renew our commitment and reframe our strategy for the journey ahead.”

In the words of former Indian ambassador Rajiv Bhatia, this is crucial because BIMSTEC has been “innovative but under-performing.” Meanwhile, for former ambassador Preeti Saran, one of India’s top senior officials dealing with the Bay of Bengal region, BIMSTEC’s twentieth anniversary highlights the “need for fresh ideas” to achieve the common objective of “rejuvenating” the organization.

To maximize BIMSTEC’s effectiveness, one area of focus should be taking steps to address its lingering organizational weaknesses, including a weak consensus about how to pursue its institutional connectivity mandate; an overtaxed and underfunded bureaucratic arm; an inconsistent joint commitment among members to holding frequent, high-level meetings; and uncertainty about how to engage with other institutional actors that support the cause of connectivity.

[##link## BIMSTEC 1997 declaration pdf]