A reinvigorated BIMSTEC hopes to avoid regional pitfalls

Bangkok hosted the 6th Bay of Bengal Initiative for Multi-Sectoral Technical and Economic Cooperation (BIMSTEC) summit on 4 April 2025 amid global upheaval. The summit holds particular salience as leaders from Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Myanmar, Nepal, Sri Lanka and Thailand reiterated their commitment to strength-ening regional cooperation at a time when the future of multilat-eralism has come under serious debate. 

 

 

The summit, which comes after a seven-year hiatus of in-person meetings, was guided by Thailand's vision of 'Prosperous, Resilient, and Open' region and adopted crucial agree-ments that lay the groundwork for fortifying regional integration efforts. The summit also adopted the Agreement on Maritime Transport Cooperation aimed at reducing logistical bottlenecks in maritime connectivity and deep-ening economic integration.

 

 

 
Beyond the signing of agree-ments, the summit signalled a marked shift towards bolstering the institutional framework for regional cooperation. The summit adopted BIMSTEC's first-ever vision document Bangkok Vision 2030 which provides a strategic blueprint for enhancing economic integration, connec-tivity and human security in the Bay of Bengal region. The summit adopted the Rules of Procedure for BIMSTEC Mechanisms, which provides a rules-based framework for BIMSTEC operations. It also endorsed the Report of Eminent Persons' Group on the Future Direction of BIMSTEC, which offers key recommendations aimed at streamlining trade and connectivity strategies to reform and revitalise BIMSTEC. 

 

Having failed to generate interest and visibility since its inception in 1997, BIMSTEC's efforts to undertake institutional reforms comes at a time when changing geopolitical realities have brought about a renewed interest in the Bay of Bengal. With South Asian regionalism centred around the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) hitting a dead end, BIMSTEC has gained momentum as an alternative plat-form for cooperation. 
The landlocked Himalayan nations of Nepal and Bhutan see BIMSTEC as a way to further integrate with the Bay of Bengal region.

 

For Myanmar and Thailand, BIMSTEC allows a way to redress overdependence on China by providing access to consumer markets in India and other rising BIMSTEC economies. Hosting BIMSTEC's permanent secretariat in Dhaka, Bangladesh expects the subre-gional grouping would afford a platform for much-needed economic development. As the only island nation in BIMSTEC, Sri Lanka could use the BIMSTEC platform to play a larger role in Indian Ocean initia-tives. 

 

BIMSTEC leaders have indi-cated political will to remodel the grouping to effectively deal with shared security and sustainable development challenges, BIMSTEC has emerged as India's preferred platform for regional cooperation in South Asia, repre-senting the intersection of New Delhi's key foreign policy prior-ities the 'Neighbourhood First outlook, the 'Act East Policy' and the 'Security and Growth for All in the Region' vision. 
Taking charge in reinvigorating 

 

BIMSTEC, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi unveiled a 21-point action plan at the summit to expand the scope of BIMSTEC activities across sectors, including a proposal to link India's digital payment system the Unified Payments Interface with the payment systems of BIMSTEC countries to facilitate trade, busi-ness and tourism. 

 

Thai Prime Minister Paetongtarn Shinawatra proposed accelerating the creation of the BIMSTEC free trade agreement, stalled since 2004, to boost intra-BIMSTEC trade, which amounts to a mere 6 per cent of member countries total trade. Having a free trade agreement in place is more crucial than ever for the Bay of Bengal region home to over 1.8 billion people, approximately 22 per cent of the global popula-tion given US President Donald Trump's sweeping tariffs on trade partners. Despite a temporary pause, these tariffs have heightened the risk of geo-economic fragmentation. 

 

 

As concerns mount over the state of the global trading system, BIMSTEC which includes two ASEAN member states (Myanmar and Thailand) could look into collaborating with ASEAN to facilitate trade trans-actions within a wider digital economy. ASEAN is currently engaged in crafting a framework for new digital trade rules the Digital Economy Framework Agreement which would allow for greater alignment across diverse regulatory landscapes. BIMSTEC countries could explore the possibility to link-up with Southeast Asian payment systems under the Digital Economy Framework Agreement framework, widening the scope for cross-border trade. 

 

Despite high expectations, espe-cially arguments that suggest reinvigorated BIMSTEC should realise its potential since it is not burdened by the historical baggage that plagued SAARC. the grouping continues to be confronted with structural issues. BIMSTEC has failed to foster substantive economic integration and has also demonstrated a lack of urgency in the completion of long-awaited connectivity proj-ects that have languished in the pipeline for years. 

 

Both the India-Myanmar-Thailand Trilateral Highway and the roadways component of the Kaladan Multi-Modal Transit Transport Project have suffered multiple missed deadlines, the latest delay attributable to the internal security situation in Myanmar. 

 

Bangladesh has taken over the BIMSTEC Chairmanship for 2025-26 even as it remains. embroiled in domestic political unrest under a shaky interim. government. To successfully steer BIMSTEC, Dhaka must manoe-uvre rising tensions with New Delhi over ousted former Bangladeshi prime minister Sheikh Hasina's presence in India and Dhaka's growing engagement with Beijing. Reminiscent of the once preferred regional grouping for South Asia, SAARC-which floundered under strained India-Pakistan relations it remains to be seen if BIMSTEC can avoid the same fate amid increasingly strained India-Bangladesh ties. 

 

Nazia Hussain is Associate Research Fellow with the Centre for Multilateralism Studies at the S Rajaratnam School of International 
Studies, Nanyang Technological University Source: East Asia Forum