BIMSTEC security chiefs meeting in Dhaka Wednesday to deepen cooperation

The national security chiefs of the BIMSTEC countries are in Dhaka to discuss security cooperation issues among the seven member states of the Bay of Bengal grouping.

This is the second such meeting to be held at state guesthouse Padma in the capital on Wednesday. The first meeting of the national security chiefs was held a year ago in New Delhi.

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

The Prime Minister's Defence and Security Adviser Tarique Ahmed Siddique will represent Bangladesh while National Security Adviser Ajit Doval will represent India. M Shahidul Islam is currently the BIMSTEC Secretary General.

At the first meeting in Delhi, BIMSTEC member states identified the common security challenges and underlined the necessity of addressing traditional and non-traditional security challenges “to harness economic prosperity and human security in the region”.

The meeting underscored the importance of recognising the Bay of Bengal as common security space and agreed to work out collective strategies for common responses.

The security chiefs will also meet Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina in the evening before they start leaving.

The 20-year old body serves as a platform for inter-regional cooperation between SAARC and ASEAN members. It accounts for 21 percent of the world population, providing huge potential for trade.

In spite of the solid foundation of geographical contiguity and shared history and cultural ties, BIMSTEC has yet to make visible progress in advancing concrete cooperation among the member states.

Two recent developments, however, have generated renewed hope that BIMSTEC is poised to take off as a viable regional grouping.

First, BIMSTEC established its permanent Secretariat in Dhaka in 2014.

Second, BIMSTEC cooperation received new impetus from the Leaders’ Retreat held in Goa, India on Oct 16 in 2016, wherein the BIMSTEC Leaders pledged to work collectively towards making BIMSTEC stronger, more efficient, and result oriented.

It is now being seen as an alternative to SAARC by some think-tanks following India-Pakistan tension that resulted in the postponement of the 2016 SAARC summit in Islamabad.