Last week Shahidul Islam, Secretary General of Bay of Bengal Initiative for Multi-Sectoral Technical and Eco­nomic Cooperation (BIMSTEC), met Nepal’s prime minister, the sub-regional grouping’s current chair, to firm up a date for the fifth BIMSTEC summit. The summit was supposed to be held in Nepal last year but wasn’t, as Nepal expressed its inability to host it—citing three different elections taking place in the country.As Nepal begins a period of sta­ble government after those elec­tions, it no longer has an excuse to defer this important summit. In fact, the current Nepali gov­ernment enjoys a very strong mandate at home, so it has an unprecedented opportunity to pursue win-win cooperation under all emerging bilateral and multilateral frameworks. Increas­ing engagement with China under the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) is definitely one avenue, but there is no reason Nepal should limit itself to one bloc. The lesson from the 2015 economic blockade, if anything, is that Nepal should diversify its trade, connectivity and engagements.

 

SAARC continues to be held hostage to India-Pakistan rival­ry and many in the region are increasingly looking toward new regional configuration as a vehicle for expediting regional integra­tion and achieving a degree of prosperity. But like SAARC, even BIMSTEC and BBIN have not been free from the typical South Asian malady: inserting politics where it does not belong. BIMSTEC, though it includes Thailand and Myanmar, is dominated by South Asian countries.

 

In its 21 years of existence, only three summits and one mini-sum­mit (BRICS-BIMSTEC Summit on the sidelines of BRICS Summit in Goa in 2016) have been held. Two of these were held in Thai­land and Myanmar, which means South Asia has hosted only one summit so far. Another issue with BIMSTEC is the lack of leader­ship. While technically the rotat­ing chairs would have to provide leadership, in reality, one or two countries with outsize influence or a bloc of smaller countries need to continuously push the engagement forward. In recent years, India has shown an interest in promoting BIMSTEC and BBIN as an alternative to SAARC and even as a way to counter the BRI, but New Delhi appears non-com­mittal at times.

 

Sectoral approach

 

BIMSTEC has a sector-driv­en approach and all member countries have technically been assigned as a sectoral lead. As of today, member states have signed on to 14 different sectors for cooperation, yet there has been very little progress. And it took 17 years for the member states to establish the permanent secretariat in Dhaka.

 

If this sectoral approach is to work, each sector needs to have its own secretariat, staff and funds to function. What BIMSTEC needs now is not more agreements but a clear implementation modality for the existing agreements. As the chair until the next summit, Nepal can influence the shap­ing of the agenda for the summit itself—which in turn can lead to a course correction in the tried and failed ways of the regional jambo­rees. For starters, Nepal should work with the Secretariat to put together a small preparatory team to work on the agenda for the next summit—which then could be floated among the BIMSTEC member countries. Even though Nepal will pass on the leader­ship to another member state, it can continue to work with other smaller countries to push the big­ger states to take initiatives as well as allocate resources.

 

How Nepal benefits?

 

Nepal and Bhutan stand to gain tremendously from BIMS­TEC, particularly on transport and connectivity. Their status as landlocked countries can become land-linked and water-linked if the full potential of this forum is exploited.

 

BIMSTEC Transport, Infrastruc­ture and Logistics Study conduct­ed with the ADB’s support has identified 167 projects at an esti­mated cost of US $ 45-50 billion to enhance connectivity in the region. This includes six projects in Nepal.

 

Prime Minister Oli has been widely mocked for saying that ships with Nepali flags would sail in the high seas. In fact, some of the items under discussion in BIM­STEC Transport Working Group include a draft Coastal Shipping Agreement. Combine this with the agreement to build inland waterways with India during Oli’s recent visit to the southern neighbor and his dream might just come true.

 

Nepal can also benefit from cooperation in other sectors such as energy, tourism and agricul­ture. The only question is whether Nepal is prepared to take advan­tage of the favorable environment at home and in the region—by tak­ing a proactive approach.