Celebrating 20th anniversary of BIMSTEC

By Shannon Jayawardena

Celebrating the 20th anniversary of the Bay of Bengal Initiative for Multi-Sectorial Technical and Economic Cooperation (BIMSTEC), the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Sri Lanka together with the Lakshman Kadirgamar Institute (LKI) organised a dialogue themed ‘BIMSTEC at 20 - Priorities for the Future’ on 8 December at LKI.

BIMSTEC, which consists of Bangladesh, India, Myanmar, Sri Lanka, Thailand, Bhutan and Nepal, which are countries that are dependent on the Bay of Bengal, was inaugurated in 1997 with the objective of technological economic cooperation between its member countries. Commerce, investment, technology, tourism, human resource development, agriculture, fisheries, transport and communication, textiles and leather are also several other focus points of the organisation.

In 1998 BIMSTEC appointed its member countries to 14 priority sectors covering all areas of cooperation, with Sri Lanka assigned to lead the technology sector. Marking 20 years of this investiture, the dialogue focused on the future plans of BIMSTEC and the goals it hopes to achieve in the years to come.

The Sri Lankan Ministry of Foreign Affairs’ State Secretary Grace Asirwatham in her keynote address said: “BIMSTEC has entered its third decade of its journey of realising its objectives and is relatively young when compared to other organisations and arrangements in Asia. BIMSTEC is striving to achieve its full potential for which the resolute support of its member countries is crucial. It was initiated for the countries in the Bay of Bengal to work together to optimise their capabilities, competencies and resources with the aim of developing the economy.”

“BIMSTEC is also designed to promote sectorial cooperation which is being achieved through regional projects to breach the economic gap and nurture economic integration. They should now focus on developing projects in the field of transport connectivity and trade-related infrastructure to create an enabling platform for infra-regional training and investment,” she added.

The event also included a panel discussion inviting various party leaders and economists to share their thoughts and insights on BIMSTEC and what its upcoming priorities should be. The dialogue saw expert views both from within and beyond the country and pooled national and local proficiency on foreign dogma. The speakers shared great facts and figures on how to strengthen and enhance Sri Lanka’s foreign policy Sri Lanka.

Sri Lanka’s former Navy Commander Jayanath Colombage, the Ceylon Chamber of Commerce’s Chief Economist Shiran Fernando, former BIMSTEC Secretary General Sumith Nakandala and Institute of Policy Studies of Sri Lanka Executive Director Dushni Weerakoon were all panellists while Lakshman Kadirgamar Institute Global Economy Programme Chairperson Ganeshan Wignaraja was the moderator of the dialogue.

Colombage said: “BIMSTEC can have a mechanism to maintain the peaceful environment of the Bay of Bengal. Unlike the Atlantic or Pacific oceans, the Bay of Bengal has many non-state factors. There are terrorists waiting to explore, radical elements, pirates possibly, illegal fishers and so forth. Therefore we need to accommodate the State-versus-State rivalry and the presence of these non-State factors into a security mechanism.

“Sri Lanka has been given the chair on safety and security and being situated in this geographically advantageous location, the country can play a key role in designing, creating and contributing to a new and advanced security structure.”

Speaking on the issues that BIMTEC had to face throughout the past 20 years, Nakalanda said: “For me BIMSTEC is a natural phenomenon and the key composition for me is the presence of Myanmar as it is the connecting landmark. When I took over BIMSTEC as the first Secretary General, apart from logistics, my problem was how to get the largest country and the most powerful member in the group interested in regional cooperation and in integration through BIMSTEC.”

Since then the organisation has progressed and achieved a great number of its set goals. Fernando, stressing the importance of the private sector’s role, said: “From the private sector’s point of view it is about how we complement the efforts taken by the association. Things need to be coordinated through the block otherwise we will not go anywhere. For Sri Lanka as a priority it’s important to get bilateral things done first.”

Finally, highlighting the need to improve in these areas and untapped potential, Weerakoon stated: “BIMSTEC has its own strengths and weaknesses and to me at least South Asia has a common morality of commitment where everybody wants to retain a South Asian identity.”

Pix by Upul Abayasekara