Bangladesh bats for stronger BIMSTEC

Smita Sharma

Tribune News Service

New Delhi, March 19

With no signs of resumption of the SAARC summit dialogue amid tense stand-off between India and Pakistan, Bangladesh has sought for a more effective BIMSTEC (Bay of Bengal Initiative for Multi-Sectoral Technical and Economic Cooperation). 

Bangladeshi envoy to India Muazzem Ali Called for a result-oriented integration of the economies of the sectoral grouping. Delivering an address on prospects and challenges of BIMSTEC at a seminar in Sapru House, the envoy said, "Time has come for us to seriously re-look at how we want BIMSTEC to be more effective and result-oriented and draw synergies with other groupings."

Launched in 1997, the grouping comprises of Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Myanmar, Nepal, Sri Lanka and Thailand. At the summit meeting of BRICS (Brazil, Russia, India, China, South Africa) nations in Goa in 2016, India chaired a BRIC-BIMSTEC outreach summit to seek greater cooperation with the groupings. Muazzem Ali urged BIMSTEC to focus on comprehensive regional connectivity and enhanced trade, anti-terrorism cooperation along with larger development goals.

"We need to expedite the Free Trade Agreement between our member states based on a win-win outcome," he said.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi has underlined that sub-regionalism is the way forward with Pakistan acting as a stumbling block to development projects in SAARC. Following India's boycott of the SAARC summit to be held in Islamabad in the wake of the Uri terror strikes in 2016, the South Asian member states pulled out of the meet which since then has been in a limbo.

On the occasion, the envoy also reiterated the need for Myanmar to repatriate the Rohingya Muslims living in  refugee camps in Bangladesh since the exodus in Rakhine state so "they can live in their own country in peace with dignity" for the sake of greater stability of the region and beyond.