India persistent on its commitment to strengthen regional cooperation

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At the 17th BIMSTEC summit held on 1st April, 2021 India pledged to enhance its relationship with all the group members.

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India has come up with an initiative to create a connectivity master plan merging countries in South and Southeast Asia, and stimulated the speedy closure of a coastal shipping pact, besides another agreement allowing motor vehicles to ply via member countries.

The Bay of Bengal Initiative for Multi-Sectoral Technical and Economic Cooperation (BIMSTEC) includes India, Bangladesh, Myanmar, Sri Lanka, Thailand, Nepal and Bhutan. It was formed in June 1997 but did not play very active role. It was revived a few years earlier as an substitute to the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC), which despite having the potential, has not been able to move ahead because of soreness between India and Pakistan.

India’s commitment to the grouping can be seen by the fact that India invited leaders of the BIMSTEC grouping for an extended session of the BRICS leaders’ summit and also in 2019 at swearing ceremony of PM Modi leaders were invited from the grouping.

It was emphasized by India that ‘robust’ linkages were ‘an essential pre-requisite for economic integration of the region with smooth cross-border movement of people and goods’.

The BIMSTEC master plan for transport connectivity has been finalized by the members and is expected to be taken up at the fifth BIMSTEC Summit. It would be an important step towards fulfilling the aspirations of the people of our region for better connectivity and integration.