The BIMSTEC summit beginning at Myanmar’s capital Naypyidaw on March 4 is the third in more than 16 years.
The present summit is already two years behind schedule and comes at a time when most member countries appear heading for transition.
During the summit, foreign ministry officials say, a memorandum of association on establishing climate change centre in India, and a memorandum of understanding on setting up a Cultural Industries Commission in Bhutan could be signed.
A memorandum of understanding would also be inked for setting up a permanent secretariat in Bangladesh which was endorsed more than two years back.
India has said it will strongly back setting up the BIMSTEC secretariat in Dhaka and bear 32 percent of the expenditure.
Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina would stress on developing trade within the BIMSTEC countries, Commerce Minister Tofail Ahmed had earlier said in Parliament.
Tofail said he sees “a bright prospect” of trade and connectivity among the member states of the Bay of Bengal Initiative for Multi-Sectoral Technical and Economic Cooperation (BIMSTEC).
Indian Foreign Secretary Sujatha Singh also told journalists in New Delhi that the summit would provide “momentum” to the connectivity and growing inter-regional and sub-regional cooperation.
No one underestimates the potential of this group on trade and connectivity, but analysts say BIMSTEC is short on achievements so far.
Organising the summit is the only achievement of BIMSTEC, says former ambassador M Humayun Kabir.
“It could not generate public interest. People do not have clear idea (about it) and that’s why they are not interested in it,” he told bdnews24.com.
The grouping began in June 1997 from Bangkok with the name BIST-EC –Bangladesh, India, Sri Lanka, and Thailand Economic Cooperation –with a major aim of economic cooperation.
Later Myanmar joined and the group’s name was changed to BIMST-EC. In 2003 Nepal and Bhutan joined, but the nomenclature of the group remained unchanged.
The member states agreed for a free trade zone connecting South East Asia and South Asia in 2004 but failed to implement the plans.
Officials say the rules and regulations are yet to be finalised.
The grouping is now promoting 14 priority sectors of development and common concerns.
Those include trade and investment, technology, energy, transport and communication, tourism, fisheries, agriculture, cultural cooperation, environment and disaster management, public health, people-to-people contact, poverty alleviation, counter-terrorism and transnational crimes, and climate change.
But ambassador Kabir, who is also a vice-president of Bangladesh Enterprise Institute, found BIMSTEC confined to ‘needless bureaucracy’.
India, Bangladesh, Myanmar, and Thailand are the major nations of the group, but observers say the bilateral relations between some of them are not smooth and that produces a ripple effect in the BIMSTEC.
Myanmar just opened to the outside world for the first time in five decades. The third summit was delayed for two years due to its political crisis.
Bangladesh is upset with the tensions with Myanmar’s Rakhine province that is leading to the flight of a large number of Muslim Rohingyas into Bangladesh.
The refugee issue also stands in the way of relations between Myanmar and Thailand.
Thailand is also facing much political uncertainty.
Relations between Bangladesh and India have improved significantly, but unresolved issues like river water sharing bedevil ties.
“Improvement of bilateral relations will definitely help BIMSTEC move ahead,” Kabir said.
He said the BIMSTEC countries remained busy with their own national and bilateral interests.
“So, the collective sense needed for success of regional and sub-regional cooperation has not grown.”
He suggested enhancing people-to-people contacts among the member states to take BIMSTEC forward.
The summit will be preceded by a preparatory meeting on Mar 1, followed by a meeting of senior officials on Mar 2, and a foreign ministers meeting on Mar 3.
Source: bdnews24