India to push regional cooperation through BIMSTEC

External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj will this week prod the BIMSTEC to step up regional connectivity and counterterror cooperation, as similar initiatives within the SAARC was blocked by Pakistan.

Swaraj will attend the 15th meeting of the foreign ministers of the BIMSTEC nations in Kathmandu this week. She will not only call for early conclusion of the negotiations for the agreement that will set up the BIMSTEC Free Trade Area, but will also push for expediting talks on the proposed pacts on services and investment, sources told the DH in New Delhi.

She will also call for exploring the possibility of a BIMSTEC Motor Vehicle Agreement for hassle-free movement of vehicles across borders within the bloc, said the sources.

The meeting of the Foreign Ministers of the BIMSTEC (Bay of Bengal Initiative for Multi-Sectoral Technical and Economic Cooperation) is aimed at preparing for the fourth summit of the seven-nation bloc scheduled to take place in Kathmandu later this year. The Foreign Ministers will review the progress on the implementation of the agenda of action agreed by the leaders of the seven-nation-bloc during a meeting Prime Minister Narendra Modi hosted in Goa in October last year.

With uncertainty looming large over the fate of the SAARC (South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation), New Delhi has since last year been focussing more on promoting regional cooperation through the BIMSTEC, particularly on counter-terrorism and connectivity.

The BIMSTEC, which came into existence in 1997, comprises Bangladesh, India, Myanmar, Sri Lanka, Thailand, Bhutan and Nepal. The bloc thus has five of the eight members of the SAARC – Bangladesh, India, Sri Lanka, Bhutan and Nepal. Only three SAARC members – Pakistan, Afghanistan and Maldives – are not members of the BIMSTEC.

Sources on Monday told the DH that Swaraj would call for expediting the signing of the BIMSTEC Convention on Mutual Assistance in Criminal Matters and for early ratification of the BIMSTEC Convention on Cooperation in Combating International Terrorism, Transnational Organized Crime and Illicit Drug Trafficking.

Similar counter-terror initiatives within the SAARC (South Asia Association for Regional Cooperation) were earlier blocked by Pakistan.

After a series of attacks on military facilities in India by terror outfits based in Pakistan or parts of Kashmir illegally occupied by Pakistan; New Delhi opted out of the SAARC summit that was to be hosted by the neighbouring country's government in Islamabad in November last year. With several other SAARC member-nations also supporting the stand taken by India, Pakistan Government had to defer the summit.

The SAARC’s fate, however, looked uncertain even before India decided to opt out of the summit, as Pakistan blocked most of its initiatives to boost connectivity and counter-terrorism cooperation.

New Delhi since last year started focussing more on BIMSTEC, with Modi hosting the leaders of all the seven member-nations of the bloc for a retreat that was held in Goa on the sideline of the BRICS (a bloc comprising Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa) summit.