Address by Minister of State for External Affairs, Dr. Rajkumar Ranjan Singh at the Conference on “BIMSTEC: 25 Years of Driving Force Behind Neighborhood Cooperation”

Shri Arindam Mukherjee, Director, Institute for Social and Cultural Studies, Kolkata and our host for this event.
Excellency Tenzin Lekhphell, Secretary General BIMSTEC
Distinguished guests,
Ladies and Gentlemen.

I am delighted that we are meeting here today for this event.

When the Ministry of External Affairs started looking for a partner to organize an event to commemorate the 25th Anniversary of BIMSTEC we naturally thought of the "Institute of Social and Cultural Studies" here in Kolkata.

Not only because of ISCS has become an institute of high national repute recognized for its scholarship and policy analysis, but also because of its location here in Kolkata.

It is the strong belief of Prime Minister Modi and the Government of India that India's Eastern and North Eastern regions must become the "leading edge" of India's "Act East" diplomatic strategy.

I was therefore delighted that ISCS accepted our request to partner this event. I am doubly delighted to see so many eminent and distinguished scholars and policy makers from the BIMSTEC region, who have come together to participate in the event over the next two days. I sincerely hope that one day ISCS will organize a similar event in my home state of Manipur!

Ladies and Gentlemen,

At the last BIMSTEC Summit hosted by Sri Lanka last year, BIMSTEC Leaders signed and formally adopted the "BIMSTEC Charter".

This completes BIMSTEC's transformation - from a grouping of countries into a full fledged regional organization focused on the broad region around the Bay of Bengal.

- Today BIMSTEC has a distinct international legal personality.

- It has a permanent Secretariat in Dhaka, with a dedicated staff headed by a Secretary General.

- It also has a formal institutional architecture through which the organization conducts its work.

In other words BIMSTEC is now available to us to undertake collective action on a region wide basis, so that we can collectively work and collaborate in a manner that will help us attain SDG targets in the region.

Government of India is committed to strengthening BIMSTEC as a regional organization. It is for this reason that Prime Minister Modi pledged additional financial resources to the BIMSTEC Secretariat at the Sri Lanka Summit in 2022. The BIMSTEC Secretariat is now in a position to 'anchor' specific BIMSTEC institution building tasks on behalf of the membership to help accelerate the development of BIMSTEC into an effective regional organization of the Bay of Bengal.

Ladies and Gentlemen,

Given the post-Covid economic challenges that are being faced by all of us and also the uncertainties that have arisen in the international system due to developments in Europe, more than even before there is a need for strong regional action. The political leadership in the BIMSTEC region is firmly committed to taking BIMSTEC cooperation to the next level.

The main challenge before officials, policy analysts and scholars like yourselves - is to help governments identify specific activities or policy actions that can be collectively undertaken by BIMSTEC Governments to deliver real development benefits to our peoples.

Identifying practical policy measures is not an easy task.

My advice to you all for your deliberations today and tomorrow is to be modest and practical in the recommendations that you arrive at.

Do not allow the "best to become the enemy of the good". Do not allow yourself to think about "the policy which is good in theory, but bad in practice".

Ladies and Gentlemen for your deliberations today and tomorrow, I have some thoughts that I would like to share.

Developing Transport Connectivity and intra BIMSTEC Trade must be important priorities for our region at this time. Both working together, enables us to attain the even higher goal of eradicating the scourge of Poverty from the region.

BIMSTEC Leaders adopted the Master Plan for the Transport Connectivity at the Sri Lanka Summit in 2022. Officials and scholars now have to help us figure out how best to ensure implementation of this Masterplan. But at the same time, my advice is that we should not let up in our efforts to finalize ongoing transport connectivity initiatives - such as the negotiations on the Maritime Transport Agreement and Motor Vehicle Agreement. This is what I mean when I said we must adopt a "modest" and "practical" approach to BIMSTEC cooperation.

On trade, policy makers and scholars need to take note of the fact that even though the BIMSTEC region has a combined GDP of US$ 3.6 trillion dollars, intra-BIMSTEC trade still remains a paltry US$ 77 billion dollar. Negotiations on a BIMSTEC FTA have been going on since 2005. Thus my advice would be that in your discussions identify specific areas, such as "Trade Facilitation" or promoting regional value chains in agriculture, that by themselves can enhance intra-BIMSTEC trade even while negotiators continue their work on the BIMSTEC FTA. This is a practical approach. I am therefore delighted that you are devoting an entire session to the subject of Agriculture value chains and Food Security today.

We live in one of the most natural disaster prone regions of the world. Climate Change has only increased the destructiveness of these natural phenomena. Thus, your deliberations on Climate Change and its imperatives must also consider the entire issue of Disaster Management that will help make this region more resilient. On its part India has taken steps to rapidly activate the "BIMSTEC Centre for Weather and Climate" which we believe can contribute to the disaster management efforts in the region. This is the practical measure that we have adopted.

Finally, I would like to talk about the efforts that are needed to build a sense of "BIMSTEC community". Without a strong feeling of "being One region, One family and having One future" amongst our peoples, regional cooperation initiatives by BIMSTEC Governments will not be so successful. I hope that in your deliberations on "fostering educational cooperation" or on "Cultural Exchanges" this practical perspective will be considered. We are constantly on the look out for initiatives that can lead to stronger people to people ties in the region.

Ladies and Gentlemen,

I thank you for your participation in this event, and urge you to keep your deliberations "practical" and "modest" so that your recommendations and efforts over today and tomorrow, can be utilized by officials and policy makers in BIMSTEC member states.

Once again I would like to thank the organizers, and I wish all the participants the very best for the deliberations.

Thank You!

Kolkata
March 25, 2023