BIMSTEC can benefit from common heritage: Historian

An American professor of history believes that countries of the Bay of Bengal can “benefit” from the findings of their common historical basis.

Kenneth Hall of Ball State University, who wrote a book on pre 15th century South and Southeast Asian history and culture, was delivering a lecture in Dhaka on Sunday.
 
He said this region had a rich history of shared culture with people’s movements for jobs and trade.
 

It also shared a smooth commodity flow.

The secretariat of the Bay of Bengal Initiative for Multi-Sectoral Technical and Economic Cooperation (BIMSTEC) organised the lecture to learn the past of the region.

Bangladesh, India, Sri Lanka, Thailand, Myanmar, Nepal and Bhutan are the members of this grouping that connects South Asia with Southeast Asia.

BIMSTEC Secretary General Sumith Nakandala said it was imperative to analyse the past of this region with a view “to rediscover our common and shared cultural heritage in the Bay of Bengal”.

Prof Hall spoke of the time between 1000 and 1500AD when three major civilisations -- Muslim Arabic, Indian and Chinese – interacted in this region.

He said this region can benefit from its glorious history of political networks, mixed colonial legacies and ports of trade.

Chinese interest in the region can also bring benefits, he said.

The BIMSTEC is a regional organisation that came into being on Jun 6, 1997. It is home to 22 percent of the world’s population, with a combined GDP of $2.5 trillion.

But the region is hardly integrated. The member states agreed in 2004 over a free trade zone connecting the two regions, but failed to implement the plans.

Currently, it is promoting 14 priority sectors of development and common concerns.

They include trade and investment, technology, energy, transport and communication, tourism, fisheries, agriculture, cultural cooperation, environment and disaster management, public health, people-to-people contact, poverty alleviation, counter-terrorism and transnational crimes, and climate change.

Prof Hall suggested effective planning for strengthening the group. He gave the ASEAN examples where 10 Southeast countries could unite despite their differences.

Myanmar and Thailand are members of both BIMSTEC and ASEAN.

The Prime Minister’s International Relation Affairs Adviser Gowher Rizvi was present, among others, at the lecture.