Context
Quick on the heels of the first Quad summit, India will be a part of the Bay of Bengal Initiative for Multi-Sectoral Technical and Economic Cooperation (BIMSTEC)’s meeting scheduled virtually on 1 April.
About BIMSTEC 2021
- It will be the 17th such meeting of BIMSTEC. The previous meet was held in Nepal, in 2018.
- Agenda: Intra-regional trade amid the pandemic, technology, innovation, and finalizing the BIMSTEC free trade agreement is likely to be on the agenda, nearly two years after the body’s last meet in Kathmandu.
About the Bay of Bengal Initiative for Multi-Sectoral Technical and Economic Cooperation (BIMSTEC)
- Inter-regional Cooperation: BIMSTEC is an inter-regional grouping that seeks to foster regional and economic cooperation among nations in the littoral and adjacent areas of the Bay of Bengal.
- BIMSTEC came into being on 6 June 1997 through the Bangkok Declaration.
- The grouping holdsannual meetings hosted by member states based on alphabetical rotation. Sri Lanka is the host nation this time.
- Members: India, Thailand, Myanmar, Nepal, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, and Bhutan are its member states.
- Initially, the economic bloc was formed with four countries with the acronym ‘BIST-EC’ (Bangladesh, India, Sri Lanka, and Thailand Economic Cooperation).
- Myanmar joined in 1997. And, in 2004, Nepal and Bhutan joined.
- It is headquartered in Dhaka, Bangladesh.
- Significance
- Regional Cooperation: BIMSTEC has emerged as the “preferred platform” for regional cooperation in South Asia.
- Economic prospects: The BIMSTEC region is home to roughly 22 percent of the global population with a combined GDP of over $2.7 trillion.
- BIMSTEC Grid Interconnection, signed during the BIMSTEC Summit in Kathmandu, Nepal, in 2018, aims to promote optimal power transmission in the BIMSTEC region.
- Strategic Significance: The Bay of Bengal has grown in strategic significance within the Indo-Pacific, especially due to the contest between India and China.
