It has been heartening to note latest developments in this region. I am referring here to the recently-concluded Third Bay of Bengal Initiative for Multi-Sectoral Technical and Economic Cooperation (BIMSTEC) Summit held in the first week of March in the Myanmar capital of Nay Pyi Taw. Leaders from Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Nepal, Sri Lanka, and Thailand participated in The Summit with Myanmar President U Thien Sein in the chair.
Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina reflected the aspirations of all the leaders when she urged that collective efforts need to be intensified to make the region secure, stable and prosperous. In her first visit abroad since being re-elected as Prime Minister, she also noted that combating poverty would assist the people of this area to live a life of dignity under peaceful conditions. This, she said, could be secured with concerted efforts based on mutual respect and trust and equitable sharing of potential resources.
SHARING THEIR ENERGY POTENTIAL: One important element that emerged from the meeting was the realisation that each country in the Group would have to focus on sharing their energy potential within the paradigm of connectivity. There was understanding particularly on three factors -1) with the increase in economic activity there would also be a growing demand for energy; 2) this would test inter-active engagement given the differences in natural endowments among the member states and 3) this would pose a challenge of securing a steady supply of energy at affordable prices. In this context, an practicable solution was proposed by Bangladesh - adopting sustainable energy development programmes as well as developing regional energy grids, giving emphasis on renewable energy and energy markets.
In this regard, most members referred to the huge untapped energy potential that existed in the hydroelectricity sector that could be developed through collaborative projects on bilateral or trilateral basis. An excellent example of this would be using the latent potential advantage of the Koshi River in Nepal or upstream river bodies in Bhutan. The prospect of cross-border power sharing would help towards integrated economic development. One can refer in this context to such cooperation existing in Europe and also in North America (between the United States and Canada).
FROM BISTEC TO BIMSTEC: It may be recalled that this process of cooperation was initiated in June 1997 as BISTEC comprising Bangladesh, India, Sri Lanka and Thailand. The Group has since expanded with the inclusion of Bhutan, Myanmar and Nepal. The first Summit was held in 2004 and the second in 2008. The third was expected to be held in 2012 but was postponed for unavoidable reasons to this year. BIMSTEC brings together nearly 1.4 billion people, almost 21 per cent of the world's population, with a combined GDP (Gross Domestic Product) of about US$ 760 billion. The other feature of this Group is its considerable amount of complementarities related to different sectors like agriculture, culture, environment and disaster management, public health, people-to-people contact, poverty reduction and the challenges of containing counter-terrorism and transnational crimes.
POTENTIAL INTER-TRADING OPPORTUNITIES: Economists, analysing future prospects of the Group, have referred to its potential inter-trading opportunities. It may be recalled here that the present intra-regional trade turnover among the member countries is only a small fraction of their total trade. FTA (Free Trade Agreements) initiatives within the Group could assist this process and create in the short term, through market access, additional trade activity worth around US$ 51 billion. This would be consistent with the forward-looking policy that led to the creation of this Group.
It may be recalled here that the common factor behind BIMSTEC was the link between ASEAN and SAARC. Common development projects were identified at the time of its creation. One was the proposal from BIMSTEC to build a highway from Kolkata to Bangkok with the support of the Asian Development Bank. It was felt that this would enhance connectivity and facilitate trade. This project has still not been completed but is under active implementation.
PERMANENT SECRETARIAT: One important success of this Summit has been its decision to establish a permanent Secretariat for this Group in Dhaka. At present there is a temporary Secretariat in Bangkok. This has been a wise decision given the agreement that the member states of this Group will need to move forward with greater determination and commitment. The Bangladesh initiative in this regard will enable it to meaningfully contribute towards facilitating the dynamics of trade and investment.
CLIMATE CHANGE: It would be essential for member states of this Group to actively address the issue of problems being created through climate change. It is impacting on the environment and that is consequently leaving its footprint in other areas of developmental activities.
It has been agreed in this Summit meeting that a centre would be opened in New Delhi to look after the problems arising out of climate variability and its effect on the environment. This has been a good decision and efforts will have to be made towards collective research on its different aspects, including rising salinity in the coastal areas and arsenic contamination in groundwater aquifers. One hopes that both the World Bank and the Asian Development Bank will assist the process of research to be carried out by this body.
SAARC AND BIMSTEC: The political leadership in South Asia welcomed the formation of SAARC more than thirty years ago. Member states envisioned cooperation and a functional relationship that would exist not only in reducing tension and promoting understanding but also creating the necessary denominators for economic development and enhancement of trade within the region. Unfortunately, all the hopes generated during the formation of SAARC have not been realised. Later on Afghanistan joined the ranks and raised expectations. However, nothing significant has materialised. Within the context of the trade matrix, we have seen the evolution of SAFTA and the creation of sensitive lists. There have been half-hearted efforts but very little addition to the trade momentum. Para tariff and non-tariff barriers have held us back.
We need to judge the prospect of BIMSTEC within this scenario. We have to understand that there is no alternative to regional cooperation. Hopefully, members of BIMSTEC will be able to rise over their political sensitivities, overcome existing challenges and discover least common denominators. In this innovative world, we have noticed South Asian states open up their domestic markets more freely to nations from outside their own region. Only 13.3 per cent of the South Asian trade is within their region. Compared to this, it is over 55 per cent trading ratio within the ASEAN group. We need to rectify the situation and look forward to more economic integration that may be achieved through trade. This, in turn, will encourage investment. BIMSTEC can provide us with such a possibility. This promise has been highlighted in the Declaration issued after the Third Summit. The implementation process will require careful follow-up actions related to various understandings reached during this meeting. Apathy, lack of political will and bureaucratic wrangling need to be avoided by all members of this Group.
THE ROHINGYA ISSUE: No evaluation of the Summit would however be complete without reference to the bilateral meetings undertaken by the Bangladesh Prime Minister on the sideline. Her meetings with Myanmar opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi and Myanmar President Thien Sein were important because of the subject-matter of the discussion. It related to the thorny issue of repatriation of refugees of Rohingya origin who have sought sanctuary in Bangladesh. It has assumed crisis proportions given the continuous arrival of such refugees from across the Myanmar border. The human rights situation associated with this problem has been compounded by the fact that Bangladesh, since 1977, has had to look after hundreds of thousands of such refugees. Many of them have since been repatriated to Myanmar but nearly two hundred thousand still live within this country without proper documents. In addition to being an economic burden, they also have a negative impact on law and order and other related issues. It is understood that during the meetings it was reiterated that Myanmar should arrange repatriation of their citizens back to their country and also restrain Buddhist extremists from attacking the Muslim population in different parts of that country. One hopes that these meetings will remove misgivings between the leadership of the two countries and help promote better understanding.
Similarly, the meeting between the Bangladesh Prime Minister and the Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh enabled Sheikh Hasina to raise the pending issue of sharing of the Teesta river waters. The Indian Prime Minister pointed out that this issue needed to be settled in the interest of the two countries, but such an agreement was unlikely in the current situation. One can only interpret this as having become difficult because of the impending parliamentary election in April-May in India. One understands that Sheikh Hasina also reiterated the need for India to complete the ratification process pertaining to the Land Boundary Protocol. The Indian government, it may be noted is taking steps in this direction. Manmohan Singh also informed the Bangladesh Prime Minister that India would try to provide 100 MW power to Bangladesh from the Indian State of Tripura.
BIMSTEC AND BCIM: There have been many positives that have emerged from this Summit. One can only hope that necessary measures will be taken by the relevant authorities to try and amalgamate efforts to be taken within the BIMSTEC context with the measures being adopted within the paradigm of connectivity being initiated within the BCIM (Bangladesh, China, India and Myanmar) Group. This will not only further economic development but also provide better opportunities for the people of the countries associated in these two Groups.
Muhammad Zamir, a former Ambassador,
is specialised in foreign affairs, right to
information and good governance.
mzamir@dhaka.net
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