With the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) lying dormant for several years now owing to tensions between India and Pakistan, Bengal Initiative for the Multi-Sectoral Technical and Economic Cooperation (BIMSTEC) has grabbed the center stage. Undoubtedly, this regional forum, consisting of seven countries—India, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, Bhutan, Myanmar, Nepal and Thailand, is an important alternative for regional cooperation and collaborations. Even as SAARC member nations such as Pakistan and Afghanistan continue to be breeding ground for terrorists, India has timely realized that the BIMSTEC has potential to take forward the regional integration initiatives in the absence of the SAARC.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s clear vision about other forums including this one for enhancing regional cooperation was evident during the 18th SAARC summit which was held in Kathmandu in 2014. He had then said that the regional integration in South Asia must go ahead “through SAARC or outside of it, among all of us or some of us”.
Now, India’s ‘hyperactive’ participation in the fifth BIMSTEC Summit held recently in Colombo signals PM Modi’s significant future plans vis-à-vis the regional forum. While addressing the fifth summit of the BIMSTEC virtually, PM Modi emphatically explained how this grouping is quite important for the region. Calling for greater cooperation among BIMSTEC nations, PM Modi in his opening remarks asserted that “it is time to make the Bay of Bengal a bridge of connectivity, prosperity, and security.” The PM also explained what makes the BIMSTEC more important. He said: “Recent developments in Europe have raised question marks over the stability of international order. In this context, it has become important to make BIMSTEC regional cooperation more active.”
PM Modi, in fact, reiterated India’s concern about regional security amid the growing challenges from different parts of the world. External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar also made his presence felt during the Summit in Colombo (Sri Lanka). He urged the grouping to fight against terrorism and extremism. There is no denying that the BIMSTEC has begun to gain traction because of India’s diplomatic efforts to make the forum more meaningful by ensuring greater collaboration among the member nations. That New Delhi commands a special position in the grouping was reinforced by the fact that India was given the responsibility to lead the security pillar of the South Asia regional grouping BIMSTEC. What India needs to do now is to carry this momentum forward, positioning itself in the leading role so as to ensure that the BIMSTEC continues to be vibrant, addressing the regional issues effectively.
Geopolitical concerns due to China’s strategic assertion are something that all the seven BIMSTEC countries need to look into more seriously and, subsequently, come out with a joint mechanism to deal with such challenges. While referring to changing global orders, Indian leadership has hinted at Chinese challenges as well. India has dropped ample hints that it is going to play a crucial role in shaping the BIMSTEC into a vibrant and robust regional forum so that it could be fit enough to deal with security, economic and health challenges in the region.
In fact, PM Modi has always been quite focused on the BIMSTEC, sensing the importance of the forum amid the various regional challenges. India had hosted a BRICS-BIMSTEC Outreach Summit in 2016. It was a joint summit of the two groupings. All the heads of the BIMSTEC nations had also been invited when Modi took oath for the second time as the PM of India. All this goes to suggest that PM Modi continued to work on the strategy aimed at ensuring deeper ties between India and the other BIMSTEC member nations.
Definitely, there will be more engagements between India and these nations in the future as well. PM Modi has set the stage for that during his address at the 5th summit of the BIMSTEC. EAM Jaishankar is reported to have worked on what will pave the way for PM Modi’s bilateral meetings with his counterparts from the BIMSTEC countries in near future. India cannot lose sight of the fact that the grouping is strategically important as its member nations are from both South Asia and Southeast Asia. So, the China factor is always in the mind of India when it seeks to get closer to the BIMSTEC countries. The forum is also important for India in terms of its Act East policy. PM Modi once described BIMSTEC as a natural platform to help India address its key foreign policy priorities of Neighbourhood First and Act East”. Greater collaboration and cooperation among the BIMSTEC countries will be beneficial for every single member state.