Bay of Bengal initiative for multi-sector cooperation

The latest meeting of this regional grouping, held in Bangkok at the end of July at the Summit level, also decided to rename itself from BIMST-EC to the Bay of Bengal Initiative for Multi-Sector Technical and Economic Cooperation. I understand that the acronym will remain the same but the hyphen before EC will be dropped. This compromise was apparently adopted to avoid making the acronym more difficult now that Nepal and Bhutan are also members.

The very fact that such a meeting could be convened and meaningful discussion held will enhance the status of this effort. It will also help to dispel comments from many analysts who had been doubtful about its long-term economic prospects and suggested that any decision making would be painfully slow.

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It is true that the gathering at this point of time is big on symbolism and that actual trade between the participating countries is still very small. In fact, trade within the group represents only US Dollars 7.3 billion, or about 4 per cent of their total trade. Final tariff negotiations on all items are also still not over within the Group. It is also correct that the Group suffers from not having Singapore and Malaysia, the two other regional power-houses on board. Nevertheless all great undertakings start with small steps and having this Summit meeting has been one of them.

The various measures outlined in the Joint Declaration, issued after the Summit meeting, identify desired areas of cooperation. That was the easy part. What was more important however was the decision to have a Centre as a first step, located in the Tai Chamber of Commerce for this purpose. Apparently the Thai government will be funding the running of this Centre and all Members will dispute Officers from their respective Embassies to look after its various responsibilities. This will probably give the Grouping an institutional basis, but it falls short of having a Secretariat which could have been vital for monitoring and also exploring avenues of mutual cooperation within this Group on a regular basis. It is strongly suggested that Members consider setting up a proper Secretariat with permanent staff and pay contributions on scales based on their GNP or any other suitable mechanism so deemed fit. This will enhance professionalism within the Group.

It is understood that BIMSTEC will focus on specific areas of cooperation, including trade and investment, transport and communication, tourism, energy, human resources development, agriculture, fisheries, science and technology and people to people contact. It has also been anticipated that future cooperation within this Group will require development of key infrastructure, particularly in transportation and communication linkages. This will be essential to foster intra-trade and also tourism potential.

One presumes that a Committee will be set up at the Ministerial level within BIMSTEC to identify steps which could be agreed upon to strengthen and accelerate cooperation for developing concrete regional project proposals such as ongoing negotiations on road linkages between member countries.

Such an idea would be particularly useful for Bangladesh and consistent with the Kunming Initiative that brought together Bangladesh, China, India and Myanmar in 1999 in their common effort towards sub-regional economic cooperation. BIMSTEC's planning can easily dovetail within itself various sub-regional measures of cooperation. For example, the decision to open direct road link between Bangladesh and Yunan, province of China, via Myanmar could be integrated within future projects to be undertaken by BIMSTEC.

Bangladesh has been playing an important role since the inception of this Grouping during the Awami League Administration. In this context, it will obviously be significant for us to continue being supportive of those growth sectors that are facing the challenges of globalisation. We should also focus on specific areas of cooperation and on projects with well-defined targets. There has to be meaningful discussion and this will not be possible unless it is frank and transparent.

One presumes that the new Centre will be preparing a list of potential projects and that these will be from the following sectors pharmaceuticals and drugs, textiles, leather, jute, small and cottage industries, agro-processing, healthcare, energy development, pisciculture, information technology and tourism. They might, in this regard, focus on available expertise within the Group and their respective potential on a cost-effective basis. Subsequently, they have to create a priority base. This would be essential to avoid wastage of time and resources.

Some of the above areas of possible cooperation have assumed special significance for Bangladesh. It has to protect its vital interests and its coastal economic zone as a littoral state on the Bay of Bengal. It will also require investment to fully exploit its potential. BIMSTEC can be most useful in this regard.

Similar, Bangladesh, along with the other Members will have to take a hard look at energy development and energy sufficiency. Over the last few decades, many of the Member States have grown indigenous expertise required not only for exploitation of potential hydro-carbon deposits but also down-stream and upstream usage of the product. A Joint Stock Company could be floated within the Group and this could be an alternative to relying totally on Western expertise and financial resources. Consequently, the resolve in the Summit to promote sustainable and optional energy utilisation through development not only of new hydrocarbon and hydro projects and natural gas grids but also with renewable energy technologies was particularly welcome. Nepal is already using soar energy. Others need to ascertain their own potential in this regard.

Another important outcome of the Summit meeting has been the unanimous agreement to combat international terrorism. It was most interesting to note that all the countries pledged not to allow use of their respective territories by terrorist groups to launch attacks on friendly governments. It might be pertinent for the Group to form a Committee, as soon as possible, composed of representatives from their respective intelligence and security agencies who could sit on a regular basis and share information about potential terrorist activities and transnational crimes. If necessary, this Committee (or Joint Working Group) could also prepare common training programmes that would assist in intelligence gathering. This would be a sensitive area of cooperation, but given confidentiality and trust, could eventually be a success, Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has been right in pointing out in this regard that security and state of law and order were important factors for creating basic conditions for economic development and for providing a better life for people in the region. This would also be a good confidence building measure that will reduce distrust.

The Summit meeting has also taken a few other good decisions -- facilitating freer travel among business persons, establishment of a BIMSTEC Chamber of Commerce and promoting tourism through a long-term plan of action.

Bangladesh can and should benefit from such measures. Thailand and India have both forged forward and Sri Lanka is not far behind them. Bangladesh also has to do the same. We should complete the steps required for implementing the Free Trade Area stipulations and then participate inter-actively with the other Members to boost economic cooperation.

Muhammad Zamir is a former Secretary and Ambassador.