• Prime Minister Narendra Modi proposed an action plan while addressing the 6th Bay of Bengal Initiative for Multi-Sectoral and Technical Cooperation (BIMSTEC) Summit in Bangkok on April 4.

• The summit was hosted by Thai Prime Minister Paetongtarn Shinawatra.

• This was the first physical meeting of the BIMSTEC leaders since the 4th BIMSTEC Summit in Kathmandu in 2018. 

• The 5th BIMSTEC Summit was held at Colombo in March 2022 in virtual format. 

• The theme of the 6th Summit was ‘BIMSTEC – Prosperous, Resilient and Open’.

• The summit was attended by PM Modi, Nepal Prime Minister K.P. Sharma Oli, Bhutan Prime Minister Tsering Tobgay, Bangladesh chief advisor Muhammad Yunus and Myanmar Senior General Min Aung Hlaing.

• The summit adopted the Bangkok Vision 2030 and a Maritime Transportation Agreement to boost connectivity and engagement between member nations.

• The chairmanship of BIMSTEC was handed over to Bangladesh.

What is BIMSTEC?

• The Bay of Bengal Initiative for Multi-Sectoral Technical and Economic Cooperation (BIMSTEC) comprises India, Bangladesh, Myanmar, Sri Lanka, Thailand, Bhutan and Nepal.

• It is a regional bloc comprising seven countries lying in the littoral and adjacent areas of the Bay of Bengal constituting a contiguous regional unity.

• This sub-regional organisation came into being on June 6, 1997 through the Bangkok Declaration. It constitutes five countries from South Asia (Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Nepal and Sri Lanka) and two from Southeast Asia (Myanmar and Thailand).

• Initially, the economic bloc was formed with four member states with the acronym BIST-EC (Bangladesh, India, Sri Lanka and Thailand Economic Cooperation). Following the inclusion of Myanmar on December 22, 1997 during a special ministerial meeting in Bangkok, the group was renamed BIMSTEC (Bangladesh, India, Myanmar, Sri Lanka and Thailand Economic Cooperation).

• With the admission of Nepal and Bhutan at the sixth ministerial meeting in February 2004, the name of the grouping was changed to Bay of Bengal Initiative for Multi-Sectoral Technical and Economic Cooperation (BIMSTEC).

• The BIMSTEC region is home to about 1.8 billion people, accounting for about 22 per cent of the global population with a combined GDP of $4.5 trillion.

• The BIMSTEC Secretariat is situated in Dhaka.

• India has been pushing for making BIMSTEC a vibrant forum as various regional initiatives under South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) were not moving forward primarily due to non-cooperation from Pakistan.

• For India, BIMSTEC is a natural choice to take forward key foreign policy priorities like ‘Neighbourhood First’ and ‘Act East’ as the bloc enjoys the strength of connecting South and Southeast Asia. 

• Initially, six sectors — trade, technology, energy, transport, tourism and fisheries — were included for sectoral cooperation. It was later expanded to 14 areas of cooperation.

Key points of PM Modi’s proposed action plan:

• PM Modi’s proposed action plan covers different aspects of cooperation, including initiatives like offering scholarships to students and researchers, to boost business by announcing the BIMSTEC Chamber of Commerce and annual business summits.

• For the youth of the region, PM Modi announced that India will host a BIMSTEC Athletics Meet this year and proposed to organise the BIMSTEC Games in 2027 to commemorate the 30th anniversary of the regional grouping.

• The action plan includes the BIMSTEC for Organised Development of Human Resource Infrastructure initiative (BODHI). Under this programme, 300 young individuals from BIMSTEC member countries will receive training in India each year.

• He also proposed a pilot study to understand the needs of BIMSTEC countries to share the experience of Digital Public Infrastructure (DPI).

• Building on India’s strides in the space sector, PM Modi offered to build nano satellites for the BIMSTEC member nations and also explore setting up of ground stations and promote the use of remote sensing data.

• He proposed establishing the BIMSTEC Centre of Excellence for Disaster Management in India to cooperate in disaster management, relief and rehabilitation.

• He also proposed the establishment of a Sustainable Maritime Transport Centre in India to enhance coordination in capacity building, research, innovation and maritime policies.

• Under the training and capacity-building initiative of the plan, PM Modi proposed scholarships to BIMSTEC students in the Forest Research Institute of India and Nalanda University for a training programme every year for young diplomats from BIMSTEC countries.

• To boost connectivity and culture, BIMSTEC Traditional Music Festival will be held in India this year, according to the plan. He also proposed faster work on electric grid interconnection.

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