PM to urge BIMSTEC leaders to move fast on connectivity

Prime Minister Narendra Modi will on Friday urge the leaders of other BIMSTEC nations to move fast on regional connectivity initiatives – beginning with easing coastal shipping and trans-border movement of vehicles.

He will also call upon the BIMSTEC leaders to speed up the process of building a regional architecture to take on the menace of terrorism.

The BIMSTEC (Bay of Bengal Initiative for Multi-Sectoral Technical and Economic Cooperation) is a bloc comprising seven littoral and landlocked countries dependent on Bay of Bengal for maritime purposes. The leaders of several BIMSTEC nations are likely to visit New Delhi on Thursday to witness Modi being sworn-in for his second term in office of Prime Minister.

Modi will have separate bilateral meetings with each of the visiting leaders on Friday.

New Delhi is keen to utilize the opportunity to push for early signing of the proposed BIMSTEC Coastal Shipping Agreement and the BIMSTEC Motor Vehicle Agreement to boost regional trade within the Bay of Bengal region.

The Motor Vehicle Agreement will pave the way for hassle-free movement of cargo and passenger vehicles across borders in the BIMSTEC region that comprises seven nations, including five of the eight SAARC (South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation) members. The Coastal Shipping Agreement will apply to shipping within 20 nautical miles off the coastlines of the BIMSTEC nations and will hence require smaller vessels and involve lesser cost and time.

Prime Minister will also request the visiting leaders to ensure that the BIMSTEC Convention on Cooperation in Combating International Terrorism, Transnational Organized Crime and Illicit Drug Trafficking comes into force early, sources told the DH on Tuesday. The convention was signed by the members of the bloc in 2009, but did not come into force as several members delayed ratifying it.

With Nepal ratifying the convention ahead of the BIMSTEC summit in Kathmandu in August 2018, the only country yet to do so is Bhutan. Sources, however, said that Thimphu had already assured New Delhi that it would speed up the process of ratifying the convention.

New Delhi is also pushing for early signing of the proposed BIMSTEC Convention on Mutual Legal Assistance in Criminal Matters. If signed, ratified and brought into force, the proposed convention will allow measures to locate, freeze and forfeit or confiscate any funds or finances meant for the financing of all criminal acts in the territory of any of the members of the bloc.

The SAARC had also adopted a Convention on Mutual Legal Assistance in Criminal Matters almost 11 years back. But it is yet to come into force as Pakistan did not ratify the 2008 convention.

Irked by Pakistan’s persistent efforts to block the South Asian nations’ collective initiatives to fight terrorism and promote connectivity, India has been pushing for regional cooperation through the BIMSTEC since 2016.