The BIMSTEC Summit 2022.

 ~Preet.

The fifth summit of the Bay of Bengal Initiative for Multi-Sectoral Technical and Economic Cooperation (BIMSTEC) grouping was recently held in Colombo, Sri Lanka (Host for the Fifth Summit). 

The primary consequence of this meeting was the signing of the BIMSTEC Charter. The members were supposed to convene once every two years under this Charter. The BIMSTEC now has a worldwide presence as a result of the Charter. It has an emblem and a flag. 

It has a formally stated goal and values to which it will adhere. In keeping with the organization's evolution into a formal structure, the leaders of the member nations have decided to split the group's operations into seven sectors, with India leading the security pillar. The Master Plan for Transport Connectivity, which will establish a framework for regional and domestic connectivity, was announced at the summit. A pact on mutual legal aid in criminal proceedings was also signed by member countries. A Memorandum of Agreement (MoA) for the development of the BIMSTEC Technology Transfer Facility (TTF) in Colombo, Sri Lanka. India will provide one million US dollars to the (BIMSTEC) secretariat's operational budget.

The Bay of Bengal Initiative for Multi-Sectoral Technical and Economic Cooperation (BIMSTEC) is a regional organisation with seven member countries: five from South Asia (Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Nepal, and Sri Lanka), and two from Southeast Asia (Myanmar and Thailand). The Bangkok Declaration established this sub-regional organisation on June 6, 1997. With 21.7 percent of the global population and a combined Gross Domestic Product (GDP) of USD 3.8 trillion, BIMSTEC has emerged as a powerful economic development engine. Dhaka is home to the BIMSTEC Secretariat.

On the basis of his Neighbourhood First policy, India's Prime Minister invited South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) countries, including Pakistan, to his swearing-in ceremony in 2014. In November 2014, the Prime Minister also attended the 18th SAARC summit in Kathmandu. However, following the Uri incident (on an Indian military facility) in October 2016, India revived its support for the BIMSTEC, which had existed for over two decades but had been mostly disregarded. Along with the BRICS meeting in Goa, PM conducted a BIMSTEC outreach summit. BIMSTEC members had backed India's proposal for a boycott of the SAARC summit, which was slated to take place in Islamabad in November 2016.  As a result, the SAARC summit has been postponed indefinitely. With work on several important SAARC initiatives stalled due to the deterioration of ties with Pakistan, India began focusing on other regional organisations such as BIMSTEC and the Indian Ocean Rim Association (IORA). 

There is a need for the member nations to finalise the BIMSTEC Free Trade Agreement. As the area faces health and economic security issues, as well as the need for solidarity and collaboration, the FTA will transform the Bay of Bengal into a bridge of connectedness, prosperity, and security.  In addition, as two of the required components of BIMSTEC's growing structure, there is a need for coastal shipping ecology and electrical grid interconnection. In order to offset the perception that BIMSTEC is an India-dominated bloc, India might employ the Gujral concept, which seeks to define the impact of transactional motives in bilateral ties. The Gujral Doctrine is a collection of five principles designed to manage India's international relations with its near neighbours. These are the principles, India does not seek reciprocity from its neighbours, including Bangladesh, Bhutan, the Maldives, Nepal, and Sri Lanka, but instead gives and accommodates what it can in good faith and trust. No South Asian country should allow its territory to be exploited against the interests of another region's country. No country should meddle in another's domestic affairs. All South Asian countries must respect the territorial integrity and sovereignty of one another. All of their disagreements should be resolved via peaceful bilateral dialogue.