The government is making the operation of ships its primary agenda at the fourth Bengal Initiative for Multi-Sectoral Technical and Economic Cooperation (BIMSTEC) summit, which is taking place in Kathmandu in August. Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli will represent Nepal at the summit. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs is making preparations in line with the government’s plan to promote international trade and investment. The ministry has informed that it is working to attract BIMSTEC member states’ attention to the prospect of operating ships. Nepal is also going to lobby for agreements on energy, technology, customs and transport. It is formulating short-, medium- and long-term plans to work with member states. PM Oli, in his meeting with BIMSTEC’s Secretary General Shahidul Islam last month, had also raised the topic of ships. Oli is reported to have said in the meeting that ships would help countries around the Bay of Bengal better connect with each other.
Nepal has already prepared a draft agreement to establish BIMSTEC Grid Interconnection. According to the agreement, a coordination committee would be formed, which in turn would formulate a master plan, opening up doors for energy trading among the BIMSTEC member states.
Krishna Prasad Dhakal, a Joint Secretary at the MoFA, said that the summit will be a success only if all member states are fully on board. He added that Nepal, for its part, is fully prepared. Dhakal also said that various issues between Nepal and its close neighbors (India, Bangladesh and Bhutan) are also high up on the summit’s agenda.
That the regional grouping’s summit is talking place after 14 years is unusual. Even so, the exact dates have not been finalized. “The delay in finalizing the date is due to the failure to hold a Secretary-level BIMSTEC Working Group meeting with Bangladesh,” said Rabi Shankar Sainju, spokesperson at the Ministry of Industry, Commerce and Supplies. “The meeting is slated to take place in Bhutan in July. It will discuss the progress made in line with the previous summit’s commitments. But we are yet to receive an invitation,” said Sainju.
“They haven’t expressed much interest in the meeting partly because it does not zero in on economic activities. Important economic topics haven’t been a top priority ever since political, cultural and other issues were also included on BIMSTEC’s agenda in 2004,” said Sainju. “BIMSTEC’s significance will go up once there is considerable economic activity among member states.”
The summit is considered important for formulating high-level policies. However, only three summits—in 2004, 2008 and 2014—have been held so far. A BRICS-BIMSTEC Outreach Summit had been held in Goa in 2016 at the special initiative of Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
BIMSTEC was formed in Bangkok on June 6, 1997; Nepal became a full member in 2004. Currently, BIMSTEC member states include Nepal, Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Myanmar, Sri Lanka and Thailand.
Member states are collaborating on 14 main issues, among them trade and investment, technology, energy, transport and telecommunications, tourism, fishery, agriculture, cultural cooperation, and poverty alleviation. Nepal is the lead country on poverty-alleviation.
