If Bangladesh can synergise its economic priorities with India and align its economic policies to Bimstec member countries, the grouping can emerge as a platform to hasten growth and prosperity
The fourth summit of Bay of Bengal Initiatives for Multi-sectoral, Technical and Economic Cooperation (Bimstec) is being held in Kathmandu from August 30 to 31, 2018. The group comprising Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Myanmar, Nepal, Sri lanka and Thailand spreads over South and south eastern region. It was launched in 1997 some 21 years ago, and the upcoming summit will be the fourth of its kind. Understandably, our progress in the past has often been slow and cautious. But if we look at the achievements of Bimstec, surely we can see that much groundwork has been done and it made some tangible progress in connecting our two regions — South Asia and South-East Asia. The challenge now is how to hasten the process of inter-regional cooperation in an era of globalisation.
In spite of initial cautious approach, two recent developments have generated renewed hopes for Bimstec to become a viable option to forge an effective regional group for the promotion of broader economic integration. First, establishing the Bimstec Secretariat in Dhaka in 2014. Second, the leaders’ Retreat held in Goa, India, on October 16, 2016, during the Brics-Bimstec Outreach Summit, wherein the leaders pledged to work collectively towards making Bimstec stronger. So, it is now time for us to look at how we can take this momentum forward to make Bimstec more ‘effective’, ‘visible’ and ‘result-oriented’ as well as draw synergies with other groupings and adjoining regions to hasten the process of integration for the benefit of 1.5 billion people in the region, who share common aspirations for growth, development, commerce, and technology.
Bimstec region is strategically located at the crossroads of South and South-East Asia. Centuries back, we used to have deeper connect crossing our land and sea space. In recent times, our countries have made significant economic growth. We also made notable social advancements: In women empowerment, education enrollment, education, reducing maternal mortality, increasing life expectancy, and so on. Our region also has a younger population and we will continue to have a large active population over the next decades. We have a regional hydro-electricity potential of more than 300 Gigawatt. We also have vast marine resources of the Bay of Bengal, which are yet to be fully mapped and tapped.
Given these advantages, Bimstec had emerged with much promise towards sub-regional and inter-regional integration in South Asia in terms of bringing its South Asian members closer to each other as well as bridging the region to Southeast Asia. But there remain some challenges and to that end, to make Bimstec more effective for the benefit of the people, we need to address those challenges.
First, visibility of Bimstec needs to be enhanced. In a region where already a few other regional cooperation, like Asean, Saarc, SASEC are in place, a ‘visible’ Bimstec is a prerequisite for effective functioning. The establishment of Bimstec Network of Policy Think Tanks (BNPTT) has been a good initiative to reach out to scholars. To reach out other sections of the population of the Bay of Bengal region, establishment of Bimstec parliamentarians forum, facilitated movement of businessmen and tourists, introduction of Bimstec scholarships by public/private universities, special airfare for travel within Bimstec countries, holding of Bimstec cultural festivals could be some effective means to enhance the visibility of Bimstec among the mass people of the region. Furthermore, we should aim to develop regional projects, to improve the lives and livelihoods of the people of this region. This will effectively connect Bimstec to the people.
Second, as Bimstec has an ambitious programme of focusing on 14 areas of cooperation, initially we should prioritise on some key areas, such as connectivity, energy, trade and investment, counter-terrorism and people-to-people contact et al and then broaden our areas of cooperation. We need to restore our age-old road, rail and coastal connectivity, which were disconnected in the past. It is really disappointing that we are yet to finally conclude the Bimstec Free Trade Agreement (FTA), which was negotiated in 2004. We need to expedite this FTA to boost intra-regional trade. It is necessary to view trade and investment together in the entire region. India, being one of the fastest growing economies, needs to take the lead role and invest more in other member countries to develop various industrialised goods on a ‘buy-back’ basis. In the energy sector, we need to create a regional market for power trade.
In addition to various bilateral initiatives, we need to hasten sub-regional cooperation on energy sector. On the question of terrorism, we must unite to defeat it in all its forms and manifestations. In Bangladesh, Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, has taken a “zero-tolerance” approach towards terrorism and violent extremism, and Bangladesh did not allow any terrorist activities to use its soil to launch any attack against India or any other neighbouring country. Naturally, Bangladesh expects similar reciprocity from all her neighbours on this account.
Poverty is a common enemy for the development of the region and we need united efforts by all countries to eliminate it. Globally, we all pledged to sustainable development. In 2015, we adopted a transformative “Agenda: 2030” for sustainable development. By now, we have similar outcomes on financing for development, disaster reduction, climate change et al. In line with all these global developments, Bimstec member countries may formulate its own regional development goals, which might be termed as “Bimstec Development Goals” (BGD), to complement achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) within the region. It would be something really remarkable if we could initiate discussion for formulating a set of BDGs for the member countries to complement our pursuit to the achievement of SDGs.
Finally, the institutional mechanism of Bimstec has to be strengthened. A Charter is needed to give more clarity to the vision of the group. At the same time, the newly established secretariat has to be strengthened, and it should be given some discretion to take decision in between the summits or meetings. But obviously, the summit is the highest policy-making and decision-making body of the Bimstec process and we have to ensure that the leaders meet together on a regular basis.
The Foreign Policy initiatives under the current Government of Bangladesh, led by Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina always manifested unwavering commitment towards stronger regional ties. Bimstec forum, as a tool for economic development through regional integration, bears great significance for Bangladesh. We draw inspiration for peace and development from the Father of our Nation, Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, who in his speech on February 6, 1972, in Kolkata had said: “let there be an end, once for all, to the sterile policy of confrontation between neighbours. let us not fritter away our national resources but use them to lift the standard of living of our people… We will be wanting to cooperate with all concerned for creating an area of peace in South Asia.” Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina was one of the four founding leaders who had inspired the launching of the Bimstec in 1997. Her Government attaches high priority to make the Bimstec process more dynamic and effective, and to strengthen the institutional mechanism for bringing out more results.
Hosting the Bimstec Secretariat since 2014 in Dhaka is a testimony of our commitment to the Bimstec process. Bangladesh had been consistently engaged with the member states in enhancing cooperation in all 14 areas of cooperation. Out of these areas, currently Bangladesh is the lead country for two areas — trade and investment and climate change. As one of the founding members, Sheikh Hasina reaffirmed “the steadfast assurance of her Government to strengthen the Bimstec process for realising the shared aspirations of the peoples of the region.” She also expressed her firm commitment to extend all sorts of cooperation.
It is a matter of great delight that our biggest neighbour, the sixth largest economy of the world and third largest economy of Asia, India, has been very active in imparing fresh momentum to Bimstec. Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi described the sub-regional and inter-regional grouping as “a natural platform” to fulfil India’s key foreign policy priorities of “Neighbourhood First” and “Act East”, and has adopted a more accommodating and pragmatic approach towards this regional group.
Bangladesh, along with three other Bimstec members, including Bhutan, Nepal and Myanmar, are in the process of graduation from the least developed countries (lDC) group, which is a matter of immense pride for us. Bangladesh has already met the all the criteria for graduation from lDC to developing country status, and so did Myanmar. If we could synergise our economic priorities with India and supplement the economic benefits and gains among the member countries, Bimstec can very well be a platform for us to hasten our economic growth.
It is now imperative on the member states that we conclude all pending formalities to harness quick dividends from our cooperation in the Bimstec forum. I hope that the ongoing Bimstec summit would generate some concrete outcomes and produce some significant roadmap, which would help shape the future of Bimstec.
(The writer is the High Commissioner of Bangladesh to India)
