A REGIONAL REVIVAL: ON THE BIMSTEC SUMMIT

Last week’s Bay of Bengal Initiative for Multi-Sectoral Technical and Economic Cooperation (BIMSTEC) summit — the sixth — which brought the leaders of seven neighbouring countries to Bangkok at a time of global turbulence, was an opportunity to reignite the regional grouping after years of stasis.

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Originally cast as a “bridging” mechanism between South Asia’s SAARC and South East Asia’s ASEAN countries, the grouping has languished due to a lack of purpose or due to political underpinnings. After the collapse of India-Pakistan ties, post-2014, SAARC has made little movement.

Whereas the micro-grouping of Bangla-desh-Bhutan-India-Nepal ran aground after the Bhutanese Parliament rejected the Motor Vehicles Agreement between them, as a result of which New Delhi has invested in BIMSTEC.