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Mahesh

10/06/22 07:43 AM IST

BIMSTEC celebrates its 25th anniversary

In News 
  • The Secretariat of the Bay of Bengal Initiative for Multi-Sectoral Technical and Economic Cooperation (BIMSTEC) in Dhaka celebrated the 25th Anniversary of the regional organisation on BIMSTEC Day.
BIMSTEC
  • The Bay of Bengal Initiative for Multi-Sectoral Technical and Economic Cooperation (BIMSTEC) is a multilateral regional organisation established with the aim of accelerating shared growth and cooperation between littoral and adjacent countries in the Bay of Bengal region.
  • It has a total of seven member countries- five from South Asia, including Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Nepal, and Sri Lanka, and two from Southeast Asia, including Myanmar and Thailand.
Historical Background 
  • It was founded as BIST-EC, in June 1997, with the adoption of the Bangkok Declaration, with Bangladesh, India, Sri Lanka and Thailand as members.
  • It became BIMST-EC (Bangladesh, India, Myanmar, Sri Lanka and Thailand Economic Cooperation) with the entry of Myanmar in late 1997, And eventually, it was named in its current form, when Nepal and Bhutan became members in 2004.
Significance 
  • The Bay of Bengal region, was one of the world’s most integrated regions until the early twentieth century.
  • The aim of setting up the regional grouping was not to create a new region for cooperation but to revive the connectivity and common interests of the members of the Bay of Bengal region. 
  • The regional group constitutes a bridge between South and South East Asia and represents a reinforcement of relations among these countries.
  • BIMSTEC different from other regional groupings such as SAARC or ASEAN is that it is a sector-driven organisation.
  • This means the goals or areas of cooperation are divided between members, for instance, out of the multiple sectors like trade, energy, transport, fishery, security, culture, tourism and so on, India was made responsible for areas like transportation, tourism and Counter-Terrorism earlier.
Challenges 
  • The first and major challenge, according to foreign policy researchers is a lack of efficiency and “sluggish” pace of BIMSTEC’s progress.
  • BIMSTEC secretariat also suffers from inadequate financial and manpower assistance for its operational activities.
  • Another criticism is India’s selective interest in BIMSTEC each time SAARC is hamstrung due to Pakistan.
  • BIMSTEC members have not adopted a Free Trade Agreement yet, they are involved in multiple bilateral and multilateral free trade, preferential trade and economic cooperation agreements with other countries.
Source- The Hindu 

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