Prime Minister
Manmohan Singh leaves for Myanmar on Monday to attend the BIMSTEC Summit where he is expected to make a
strong pitch for giving a fillip to India's Look East policy and explore ways
to enhance connectivity, transport, trade, tourism and other linkages to all
the northeastern states.
In what could
be his last foreign trip as Prime Minister in this tenure, Dr. Singh is likely
to use his two-day visit to renew contacts with leaders of the seven-member Bay of Bengal Initiative for
Multi-Sectoral Technical and Economic Cooperation (BIMSTEC) which will hold
its summit on 4th March in Myanmar
capital Nay Pyi Taw.
BIMSTEC is an expression of India's Look East
Policy of the 1990s, coinciding with Thailand's Look West Policy. The seven members-- India, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Thailand, Myanmar, Bhutan and Nepal--
bring together over 20 per cent of the world population, which is about 1.5
billion, and a GDP of over USD 2.5 trillion.
A Framework Agreement for BIMSTEC Free Trade
Area was signed in Phuket, Thailand in February, 2004, which commits the
parties to negotiate FTAs in goods, services and investments. An agreement on Trade in Goods and other
provisions relating to rules of origin, operational certification procedures
and pact on Customs cooperation was finalised in June, 2009. India has exchanged its tariff preference
schedules with member countries.
BIMSTEC
On 6 June 1997, a new sub-regional grouping was
formed in Bangkok and given the name BIST-EC
(Bangladesh, India, Sri Lanka, and Thailand Economic Cooperation). Myanmar
attended the inaugural June Meeting as an observer and joined the organization
as a full member at a Special Ministerial Meeting
held in Bangkok on 22 December 1997, upon which the name of the grouping was changed to BIMST-EC. Nepal
was granted observer status by the second Ministerial Meeting in Dhaka in
December 1998. Subsequently, full
membership has been granted to Nepal and Bhutan in 2004.
In the first Summit on 31 July 2004, leaders
of the group agreed that the name of the grouping should be known as BIMSTEC or
the Bay of Bengal Initiative for Multi-Sectoral Technical and Economic
Cooperation.