BIMSTEC

Aims and Objectives;

Opportunities and Challenges for Bangladesh

Course Title: Regional Planning and Development

Course Code: 2102
Department of Urban and Regional Planning
Jahangirnagar University
Savar, Dhaka

Submitted To:
S. M. Nawshad Hossain
Assistant Professor
Department of Urban and Regional Planning
Jahangirnagar University
Savar, Dhaka

Submitted By:
GROUP: 07
Sayla Afrin Monika (727)
Fahmida Sultana Mitu (736)
Alimuzzaman Siam (746)
Bipro Acharjee (755)
MD. Toushikir Rahman (761)
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What is BIMSTEC?
The Bay of Bengal Initiative for Multi-Sectoral
Technical and Economic Cooperation (BIMSTEC) is a
unique regional organization that connects South and
Southeast Asia. It comprises five littoral states of the Bay
of Bengal – Bangladesh, Thailand, Myanmar, India and Sri Lanka, and two landlocked
Himalayan nations – Nepal and Bhutan. BIMSTEC was founded as BIST-EC, in June 1997, with
the adoption of the Bangkok Declaration, with Bangladesh, India, Sri Lanka and Thailand as
members. It became BIMST-EC (Bangladesh, India, Myanmar, Sri Lanka and Thailand Economic
Cooperation) with the entry of Myanmar in late 1997, And eventually, it was named in its current
form, when Nepal and Bhutan became members in 2004.
Being a sector-driven grouping, cooperation within BIMSTEC had initially focused on six sectors
in 1997 (trade, technology, energy, transport, tourism, and fisheries) and expanded in 2008 to
incorporate agriculture, public health, poverty alleviation, counter-terrorism, environment,
culture, people-to-people contact, and climate change.

Fig-01: The secretariat of BIMSTEC in Dhaka

The BIMSTEC region hosts 22% of the world population or 1.68 billion people; the member states
have a combined GDP of US$3.697 trillion/per year. BIMSTEC aligns with its ‘Act East’ policy
for greater regional cooperation in Southeast Asia.

Aims and Objectives

The main objective of building such an alliance was to harness shared and accelerated growth
through mutual cooperation in different areas of common interests by mitigating the onslaught of
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globalization and by utilizing regional resources and geographical advantages. Following are the
aims and objectives of BIMSTEC:
• To create an enabling environment for rapid
economic development through identification
and implementation of specific cooperation
projects in the sectors of trade, investment and
industry, technology, human recourse
development, tourism, agriculture, energy, and
infrastructure and transportation.
• To accelerate the economic growth and social
progress in the sub-region through joint
endeavors in a spirit of equality and
partnership.
• To promote active collaboration and mutual
assistance on matters of common interest in the
economic, social, technical and scientific
fields.
• To provide assistance to each other in the form
of training and research facilities in the
educational, professional and technical
spheres.
• To cooperate more effectively in joint efforts
that are supportive of and complementary to
national development plans of Member States Fig-02: BIMSTEC and its region
which result in tangible benefits to the people
in raising their living standards, including generating employment and improving
transportation and communication infrastructure.
• To maintain close and beneficial cooperation with existing international and regional
organizations with similar aims and purposes.
• To cooperate in projects that can be dealt with most productively on a sub-regional basis
and make best use of available synergies among BIMSTEC member countries.

BIMSTEC: Opportunities for Bangladesh

Bangladesh is the lead country in BIMSTEC for three areas – trade, investment, and climate and
has reiterated its fullest cooperation in this regard during the successive BIMSTEC ministerial
meetings and summits. BIMSTEC offers Bangladesh a much-needed regional platform to address
some of its major concerns, such as climate change induced effects, food and energy securities,
upgradation of cross-border transport linkages and harmonization and liberalization of trade
procedures. Bangladesh, a country that maintains friendly ties with almost all the neighboring
nations, was recognized of its rising importance in an inter-regional framework for cooperation
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when the member nations unanimously

chose Dhaka to establish the permanent
secretariat of BIMSTEC in January
2011. The establishment of the
secretariat which is also the first ever
headquarter of any regional
organization, was viewed by many as a
diplomatic victory for Bangladesh. The
central location of Bangladesh in the
Bay of Bengal presents the country an
added advantage to play a key role in
boosting trade, investment, connectivity Fig-03: Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina inaugurating the secretariat of
BIMSTEC in Dhaka
and technical cooperation in the
BIMSTEC region. While inaugurating the secretariat on September 13, 2014, Prime Minister
Sheikh Hasina expressed the hope that such an initiative would lead to deeper and broader
engagement among the seven nations. The opening of the secretariat was an important milestone
in the institutional development of BIMSTEC.
BIMSTEC has many prospects for Bangladesh and the country can be benefited in diverse ways
being the member of this regional organization. Some of the significant sectors in which
Bangladesh can earn benefits are discussed below:

Generating higher GDP and income

It is estimated that BIMSTEC countries together can generate gross domestic product (GDP) worth
about $4.0 trillion. If BIMSTEC can enhance economic activities among the member states, this
value can increase manifolds. The member states of BIMSTEC can expand their interconnectivity
through rail network, road and coastline since the region is linked by sea and road communications
geographically. This will in turn help the member nations to generate employment, communication
and economic activities. This area of development will ultimately lead to higher economic growth
for the nations involved including Bangladesh, resulting in higher GDP and income for all
involved.

Raising the standard of living

Great strides are made in women empowerment, education, digital knowledge and poverty
alleviation among other areas by the people of this region. Advancement in education, health and
sanitation and poverty reduction through better economic activities can also raise the standard of
living of people under the BIMSTEC member states which includes Bangladesh.
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Expansion of trading
In March 2011, the BIMSTEC members agreed to create a free trade zone by liberalizing trade in
goods, services and investment. This creates scope to increase and expand existing bilateral and
multilateral trading among the BIMSTEC countries as well as to ensure better livelihood for the
people involved as shorter and cheaper trade routes among the countries can allow free movement
of goods. With an estimated population close to 2.0 billion among the BIMSTEC member
countries, the impact of trade can be phenomenal and mutually beneficial. The experts are of the
opinion that the proposed BIMSTEC free trade agreement has the potential to generate inter-
regional trade worth more than $50 billion. Bangladesh also desires to make use of the regional
grouping for promoting trade and upgrading connectivity with neighboring Myanmar that serves
as the country’s gateway to Southeast Asia. The Bangladesh-Myanmar trade remained stagnant
for many decades due to the absence of land connectivity and shipping between the two nations.
The Bangladeshi business and industry leaders think that their country stands to benefit immensely
from the coastal shipping line as the import of basic commodities would be much cheaper, easier
and faster. They are optimistic that the bilateral trade that presently stands at $100 million annually
is poised to reach $500 million after the opening of the coastal shipping line. Both the neighbors
intend to achieve the target of $1 billion by 2020.

Scope For creating efficient and steady supply of power

There is a growing demand for electricity due to increasing economic activities in all BIMSTEC
countries. All member nations require significant and steady supply of energy. Hence, there is
scope for creation of an international electricity grid among BIMSTEC countries to ensure efficient
and steady supply of power. Research has found that the BIMSTEC countries together have the
potential to produce 300 Gigawatt of hydro-electricity. At present, the transfer of electricity from
one BIMSTEC state to the other is happening bilaterally. Involvement of more nations in an
international grid can ensure rapid economic development of the BIMSTEC countries. Bangladesh
believes that the plans envisaged under the BIMSTEC could secure its energy needs. The
BIMSTEC has enormous potential for hydropower in the Himalayan region and hydrocarbon in
the Bay of Bengal. Bangladesh, which has been facing acute shortage of electricity and fuel for
long, urged the member nations to explore ways for proper utilization of huge energy resources
especially hydro-electric through bilateral and trilateral collaborations.

Combating terrorism and drug trafficking

Mutual cooperation among the member states can also be used to combat terrorism and drug
trafficking. The Leaders of the member nations have identified the fight against terrorism and
organized crime as one of the important prerequisites for sustainable growth and maintaining peace
in the region. The Member States signed the BIMSTEC Convention on Cooperation in Combating
International Terrorism, Transnational Organized Crime and Illicit Drug Trafficking in 2009.
Another legal instrument namely BIMSTEC Convention on Mutual Legal Assistance in Criminal
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Matters is awaiting signature by Member States. This cooperation will help the member states
including Bangladesh to develop common legal and institutional framework in the BIMSTEC
region for countering terrorism and transnational crimes.

Dealing with the threats posed by climate change

Bangladesh currently faces serious threats to environment, food security and livelihood of millions
in the Ganga-Brahmaputra-Meghna Delta region due to climate change and the country requires
the crucial support of the international community particularly at the regional level to mitigate
them. In this context, BIMSTEC offers Bangladesh a new avenue for multilateral cooperation to
deal with the threats posed by climate change. The Hasina government has already underscored
the need for greater BIMSTEC cooperation in the agriculture sector, which is facing the worst
effects of climate change.

BIMSTEC: Problems and challenges for Bangladesh

Being a sector-driven grouping, cooperation within BIMSTEC had focused only on the following
sectors
Bangladesh:
• Trade
• Investment
• Development
India:
• Security
▪ Sub-sectors: Counter-Terrorism and Transnational Crime, Disaster Management,
Energy
Myanmar:
• Agriculture
• Food Security
▪ Sub-sectors: Agriculture, Fisheries & Livestock
Bangladesh shares a border with only India & Myanmar. As we can see the focused sector are
different for these neighboring countries, so it is hard to find good output from this organization.

Clash with other organization

Before this week’s virtual summit, BIMSTEC leaders had last met in Kathmandu in August 2018.
Despite having been in existence for many years, the grouping had been largely ignored until India
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gave it a renewed push in October 2016, a month after the terrorist attack in Uri. Alongside the
BRICS summit in Goa, India hosted an outreach summit with leaders of BIMSTEC countries.
Weeks earlier, some of these countries had supported New Delhi’s call for a boycott of the SAARC
summit scheduled in Islamabad that November.

Countering China
China has undertaken a massive drive to finance and build infrastructure in South and Southeast
Asia through the Belt and Road Initiative is almost all BIMSTEC countries except Bhutan and
India. BIMSTEC could allow India to push a constructive agenda to counter Chinese investments,
and instead, follow best practices for connectivity projects based on recognized international
norms. The Chinese projects are widely seen as violating these norms.

Challenges and setbacks

According to foreign policy experts, the first and most significant obstacle is BIMSTEC's lack of
efficiency and "sluggish" advancement. The mismatch in scheduling policy and operational
meetings has been previously mentioned. In addition, the BIMSTEC secretariat receives
insufficient financial, and staff support for its operational duties. Another point of contention is
India's selective interest in BIMSTEC whenever SAARC is hampered by Pakistan.
Furthermore, in terms of transborder commerce and connectivity, BIMSTEC countries have a lot
of ground to cover." The 1,600 km long India-Myanmar border remains Asia's least open,"
according to a 2020 research study. In the 1950s, India's yearly commerce with BIMSTEC
countries was in the double digits as a percentage of overall international trade, but by 2020, it had
dropped to barely 4%. Within BIMSTEC countries, inter-regional trade varies greatly; research
reveals that member countries interact with one another based on proximity, availability of trade
routes, and the size of their economies. Notably, it was also seen that a lot of the time, BIMSTEC
member countries don’t import goods that are manufactured and exported by other members,
instead of importing from other non-member countries. While BIMSTEC members have not
adopted a Free Trade Agreement yet, they are involved in multiple bilateral and multilateral free
trade, preferential trade, and economic cooperation agreements with other countries.
The Bay of Bengal, with its 15,792 square kilometers and 8,471 square kilometers of coral reefs,
is a vital source of natural resources for a coastline population of around 185 million people.
According to presentations made at the recent Bay of Bengal Maritime Dialogue organized by the
Centre for Humanitarian Dialogue, the Bay's fishermen population is estimated to be around 3.7
million, with an annual fish catch of around six million tons, accounting for 7% of the world's
catch and valued at around $4 billion. Despite this, BIMSTEC countries have failed to develop a
common and profitable coastal cargo ecology, and they continue to struggle with the arrest of
fishermen who breach territorial borders.
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Bangladesh-Myanmar ties amid the Rohingya refugee crisis, the India-Nepal border issue, and,
most recently, the political situation in Myanmar following the military junta's takeover in
February last year have all been highlighted BIMSTEC's progress in recent years. The participation
of Myanmar's Foreign Minister in this year's Summit also grabbed notice, as the country is
regarded as a leading violation of human rights around the globe.

RAB Sanction
Responding to a question, the foreign minister said Bangladesh was in discussion with the US on
the issue of withdrawal of sanctions against RAB by the Biden administration. This is a process,
the minister said, adding that several steps would be needed for the withdrawal and the country
was working on it. He said in his upcoming meeting with the US Secretary of State, Anthony
Blinken, that the issue would be raised. The other agenda of the meeting include bilateral
cooperation on trade, security, and democratic practices, Foreign Minister of Bangladesh Dr. AK
Abdul Momen mentioned.

The seven geographically contiguous BIMSTEC member nations enjoy close socio-cultural,
commercial and historic ties among them. It is imperative that they expedite the process of building
cross-border transport infrastructure and logistics for boosting commercial ties and people-to-
people contact and facilitating rapid economic growth in the BIMSTEC region. Bangladesh could
earn huge revenue in the form of transit fess once the BIMSTEC plans are fully implemented. A
speedy and amicable resolution of the issues pertaining to the free trade agreement could accelerate
the process of South Asia’s economic integration. The member nations also need to guard against
periodic domestic unrest that has slowed down the progress of the BIMSTEC.

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