New Delhi assures it's no substitution

With the 19th Saarc summit in Islamabad being postponed and bilateral meetings of the Bimstec on the sidelines of the Brics summit coming up, New Delhi yesterday asserted that one regional grouping was not a substitute for another.

The decision to invite leaders of the seven nations of the Bay of Bengal Initiative for Multi-Sectoral, Technical and Economic Cooperation (Bimstec) was taken in April, said Secretary (External Relations) Amar Sinha of India's external affairs ministry.

His statement came following a question on how much focus India will be giving on Bimstec following postponement of the Saarc summit, scheduled to be held in November, after Afghanistan, Bhutan, Bangladesh, India and Sri Lanka pulled out.

The withdrawal came in September, the 18th of which saw an attack on an Indian army camp in Uri in Jammu and Kashmir on September 18 leaving 19 Indian troops dead. India blames Pakistan-based terror outfit Jaish-e-Mohammed for the attack.

Media reports stated that India was considering propping up Bimstec as a regional grouping in place of the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (Saarc).

Amar was briefing the media on the 8th summit of Brazil, India, China and South Africa (Brics) and the Bimstec gathering in Goa on October 15-16.

On the bilateral meetings, India's external affairs ministry Spokesperson Vikas Swarup said, “They are still in the making and since these events are subject to changes, I will brief you on this as and when they happen.”

Diplomatic sources here told The Daily Star that Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina would reach Goa and hold a meeting with her Indian counterpart Narendra Modi on October 16 before returning to Dhaka the next day.

Amar said India was reviving the pre-1965 road and rail links with Bangladesh.

Secretary (East) Preeti Saran of India's external affairs ministry said there would be a retreat after the Brics summit where Modi would chair the Bimstec meetings.

She said the prime ministers of Bangladesh, Bhutan, Myanmar, Nepal, Thailand and India and the Sri Lankan president would participate.

Terrorism will be a “very important component” of the meetings because the entire region was a victim, she said. Amar said the leaders would call for cutting off financing for terror activities and plugging sources of arms.

Trade felicitation and investment will also come up as trade ministers are scheduled to meet in Delhi from October 12 to 15 to discuss issues of mutual interest.

On the status of Bimstec Free Trade Agreement which has been under negotiations for some years, Preeti said, “We would like to get some guidance from our leaders' meeting in Goa.”

She said India considers Bimstec to be a “very important component” of its “Act East” policy.

This is because it helps New Delhi connect with South East Asia which is experiencing an annual economic growth of 6.5 percent for a population of 1.5 billion and having a $2.3 trillion economy, she said. She said there were a lot of commonalities among the member countries and “there are no issues” among them.

Amar said Bimstec would be celebrating two decades of its establishment next year and it was a good opportunity to rejuvenate and re-energise the grouping.

“We consider Bimstec as a very important platform to carry forward regional integration and it also puts in focus northeastern Indian state's development as they share border with two Bimstec countries Bangladesh and Myanmar,” she said.

Set up in 1997 with the main themes of cooperation over transport connectivity, economic development, energy security and people-to-people contact, Bimstec held its first summit in Thailand that year.

The next summit was hosted by India in 2008 and the third in 2014.