State University of Bangladesh

Nahid HossenUGo1-37-14-083

B I M S T E C

Introduction BIMSTEC is short for Bay Of Bengal Initiative for

Multi-Sectoral Technical and Economic Cooperation

Members are Bangladesh, India, Myanmar, Sri Lanka, Thailand, Bhutan and Nepal

Background Information On 6 June 1997, a new sub-regional grouping was formed

in Bangkok and it was named as BIST-EC

On 22 December 1997, when Myanmar joined it has changed it’s name to BIMSTEC

The objective of building such an alliance was to harness shared and accelerated growth through mutual cooperation in different areas of common interests

Benefits For The Members• Members will have rapid economic development through

identification and implementation of specific cooperation projects in these sectors

Trade Investment & Industry

Technology

Human resource

developmentTourism Agricult

ure

Energy Infrastructure

Transportation

Recent ProjectsTechnical Cooperation & HRM Development

• Aimed at developing human resources in the region in order to build the knowledge based economy

BIMSTEC Business Travel Facilitation

• Long term multiple entry visa to facilitate business travel within BIMSTEC

Free Trade Area Framework

• In order to stimulate trade and investment in members

Achievement & Contribution

In 2005, BIMSTEC collaborated with Asian Development Bank to help promote and improve transport infrastructure and logistic among the BIMSTEC countries

Future goals

Poverty Alleviation

• Through education and self employment, the role of women and making poor people bankable

Protection of Biodiversity and Traditional Knowledge (traditional medicine)

• By promoting traditional medicine and generic drugs, so that the poor would have access to affordable treatment

Challenges and Threats• BIMSTEC has gained so little national and regional

significance and this is one of the main challenges for them.

• This challenge occurs mainly because India is by far the biggest country in BIMSTEC. Since India did not take much interest in BIMSTEC, other members hasn’t been influential either.

• Another big challenge is the poor bilateral relationship between the BIMSTEC countries.

Why I Like BIMSTEC !!

BIMSTEC provides a formidable platform for developing deeper understanding and cooperation with our neighbors and work for progress and prosperity for the people of the region.

Conclusion

Although BIMSTEC started with a great purpose it lacks of proper goals and implementation of goals. That’s why it got the lowest priority. In order to succeed with their goals, they must include more big economic Asian countries.

References https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bay_of_Bengal_Initiative_for_Multi-Sectoral_Te

chnical_and_Economic_Cooperation

http://www.bimstec.org/index.php

http://sameaf.mfa.go.th/en/organization/detail.php?ID=4493