Explained | What is the BIMSTEC grouping and how is it significant?

How does the regional organisation work? What has it done over the years and how does it figure in the current geopolitical calculus?

The story so far: The fifth summit of the now 25-year-old Bay of Bengal Initiative for Multi-Sectoral Technical and Economic Cooperation (BIMSTEC) hosted by Sri Lanka, was held on Wednesday, March 30, in a hybrid fashion. Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who attended the summit virtually, called for unity and cooperation in the region as it faces economic and health challenges. He also announced the adoption of the organisation's institutional architecture- the BIMSTEC charter.

Meanwhile, Union Minister for External Affairs, S. Jaishankar was in Colombo for the ministerial meeting of BIMSTEC members on Tuesday, March 29. Citing the current Russia-Ukraine crisis, He emphasised the importance of maintaining international peace and stability. An official of the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) said on Wednesday, that under the new changes adopted in the summit, India will now be the “security pillar” of the BIMSTEC.

The Bay of Bengal Initiative for Multi-Sectoral Technical and Economic Cooperation (BIMSTEC) is a multilateral regional organisation established with the aim of accelerating shared growth and cooperation between littoral and adjacent countries in the Bay of Bengal region.

It has a total of seven member countries- five from South Asia, including Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Nepal, and Sri Lanka, and two from Southeast Asia, including Myanmar and Thailand.

It 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.

The Bay of Bengal region, was one of the world’s most integrated regions until the early twentieth century, according to a 2020 research paper by Constantino Xavier and Riya Sinha for the Vivekananda International Foundation. But after the 1940s, when members of the region became independent and pursued separate goals and alliance systems, “the region’s sense of community has almost completely eroded.”

So, the aim of setting up the regional grouping was not to create a new region for cooperation but to revive the connectivity and common interests of the members of the Bay of Bengal region. BIMSTEC’s first Secretary General, Sumith Nakandala, echoed this when he had said, “we are not reinventing the wheel” but just “rediscovering the common heritage around the Bay of Bengal.”