BIMSTEC stands for Bay of Bengal Initiative for Multi-Sectoral Technical and Economic Cooperation (BIMSTEC) which is an international organisation of 7 South Asian and Southeast Asian nations. BIMSTEC members are among the countries mainly dependent on the Bay of Bengal. Read more about BIMSTEC below.

About BIMSTEC

• International Organisation of 7 South Asian and Southeast Asian nations.
• Founded on 6th June 1997 through Bangkok Declaration.
• Member States –
  • Bangladesh,
  • Bhutan,
  • India,
  • Myanmar,
  • Nepal,
  • Sri Lanka, and
  • Thailand.
• Member countries included mainly dependent on Bay of Bengal.
• Accounts for 22% of the world’s population.
• Combined GDP of $2.7 trillion.
• Member nations meet every two years for a summit.

History

• On 6 June 1997, a new sub-regional grouping was formed in Bangkok known as BIST-EC (Bangladesh, India, Sri Lanka, and Thailand Economic Cooperation).
• On 22 December 1997 during a special Ministerial Meeting in Bangkok, the Group was renamed ‘BIMST-EC‘ (Bangladesh, India, Myanmar, Sri Lanka and Thailand Economic Cooperation).
• In 1998, Nepal became an observer. In February 2004, Nepal and Bhutan became full members.
• On 31 July 2004, during the first Summit, the group was renamed as BIMSTEC (Bay of Bengal Initiative for Multi-Sectoral Technical and Economic Cooperation).

Objective

There are 14 main sectors of BIMSTEC –

1. Trade & Investment
2. Transport & Communication
3. Energy
4. Tourism
5. Technology
6. Fisheries
7. Agriculture
8. Public Health
9. Poverty Alleviation
10. Counter-Terrorism & Transnational Crime
11. Environment & Disaster Management
12. People-to-People Contact
13. Cultural Cooperation
14. Climate Change

Administration

Permanent Secretariat

• Permanent Secretariat – Dhaka, Bangladesh.

No.	Date	Country	Secretary General of the BIMSTEC
1	2014–2017	Sri Lanka	Sumith Nakandala
2	2017–2020	Bangladesh	M Shahidul Islam
3	2020–2023	Bhutan	Tenzin Lekphell
4	2024–present	India	Shri Indra Mani Pandey

Summits

The following are the details of BIMSTEC summits, the date and Host Country with host cities –

No.	Date	Host country	Host city
1st	31 July 2004	Thailand	Bangkok
2nd	13 November 2008	India	New Delhi
3rd	4 March 2014	Myanmar	Naypyidaw
4th	30–31 August 2018	Nepal	Kathmandu
5th	30 March 2022	Sri Lanka	Colombo (Virtual meeting)

BIMSTEC summit 2025 (6th) is expected to be held in Bangkok in April 2025.

Chairmanship

The Chairmanship of the BIMSTEC has been taken in rotation commencing with

1. Bangladesh (1997–1999, 2005–2006),
2. India (2000, 2006–2008),
3. Myanmar (2001–2002, 2009–14),
4. Sri Lanka (2002–2003, 2018–2022),
5. Thailand (2004–2005, 2022–24),
6. Nepal (2015–18).

Agreements

BIMSTEC Coastal Shipping Agreement draft

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• Signed by all member nations.
• Main Aim – To stimulate trade and investment in the parties, and attract outsiders to trade with and invest in the BIMSTEC countries at a higher level.
• Trade Negotiating Committee (TNC) was set up with Thailand as the permanent chair, mainly to negotiate in areas of trade in goods and services, investment, economic co-operation, trade facilitations and technical assistance for LDCs.

BIMSTEC Coastal Shipping Agreement draft

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• Discussed on 1 December 2017 in New Delhi.
• Main Aim – To facilitate coastal shipping within 20 nautical miles of the coastline in the region to boost trade between the member countries.
• Once the agreement becomes operational after it is ratified, it will help cargo movement a lot between the member countries through the cost effective, environment friendly and faster coastal shipping routes.

BIMSTEC Conclave of Ports summit

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• Held on 7 and 8 November 2019 in Visakhapatnam, India.
• Main Aim – Providing a platform to strengthen maritime interaction, port-led connectivity initiatives and sharing best practices among member countries.

Projects

• Coast shipping
• Power grid interconnection
• Regional disaster monitoring and warning system
• Road and rail Look-East connectivity projects
• MILEX-18

MILEX-18

• MILEX-18 stands for Multinational Military Field Training Exercise.
• The first-ever BIMSTEC MILEX-18 was held in Pune, India from 10–16 September 2018.
• The exercise was attended by all the BIMSTEC member countries.
• Theme of the exercise – Counter-terrorism in semi-urban terrain.
• MILEX-18 was a major success and was hailed as a significant step towards increased military cooperation in the Bay of Bengal region.
• Features of MILEX-18 –
  • It helped to improve interoperability between the participating forces and to share best practices in the field of counter-terrorism.
  • It also helped to build trust and confidence among the BIMSTEC member countries.
  • It also helped in major boost to the BIMSTEC security cooperation agenda.
  • It helped in paving the way for more such exercises in the future.
  • It helped to further enhance their cooperation in the field of security.

Sources: MEA India, Wikipedia, News.