Press Briefing by the Hon. Foreign Minister

on the eve of departure for the 9th Ministerial / 11th Senior Officials 

Meeting of BIMSTEC, 6 August 2006, Dhaka

Background: Bay of Bengal Initiative for Multi-Sectoral Technical and Economic Cooperation (BIMSTEC) established on 6 June 1997, at the Meeting of the Foreign Ministers of the four countries in Bangkok. Originally, it was established in the formation of 'Bangladesh, India, Sri Lanka, Thailand Economic Cooperation (BIST-EC)'.

Myanmar afterwards attended the BIST-EC Meeting, as an observer; and joined the sub-regional grouping as a full member at a Special Ministerial Meeting in Bangkok on 22 December 1997. The name of the grouping was consequently changed to 'Bangladesh, India, Myanmar, Sri Lanka, Thailand Economic Cooperation' (BIMST-EC).

Nepal was granted observer status by the second Ministerial Meeting in Dhaka in December 1998. At the 6th Ministerial meeting in Phuket in February 2004, Bhutan and Nepal were welcomed as new members. The First BIMST-EC Summit was held in Bangkok on 31 July 2004. Following admission of Nepal and Bhutan, the name of the grouping was changed to 'Bay of Bengal Initiative for Multi-Sectoral Technical and Economic Cooperation' (BIMSTEC).

BIMSTEC provides a unique link between South Asia and South-East Asia. It brings together 1.3 billion people, that is 20% of the world population; and a combined GDP of over US$ 750 billion. These countries have a considerable amount of complementarities given geographical contiguity, differing levels of development and resource endowments.

One Study (2004) showed that the BIMSTEC FTA has the potential to create trade to the order of US$ 43 to 59 billion. BIMSTEC is based on mutual interests and common concerns among member countries and complementarities of their economies.

Ladies and Gentlemen,

Good afternoon!

Let me thank you for your presence at this briefing on the forthcoming 9th BIMSTEC Ministerial Meeting and the preceding 11th Senior Officials Meeting in New Delhi. The Ministerial Meeting will be on 9th August, while the SOM will be on 8th August. Indian Minister of State for External Affairs will chair our Meeting in New Delhi where I shall hand over the BIMSTEC Chairmanship to India.

You would recall that Bangladesh assumed the Chairmanship of BIMSTEC SOM with the holding of the Ninth SOM in Dhaka in June 2005, which led to the holding of the 8th Ministerial Meeting in Dhaka last December. The Foreign Ministers and Secretaries of the member states would be attending the Meeting in Delhi where we shall discuss a number of important issues.

As you are aware, Bangladesh was the Chair of the 9th BIMSTEC Ministerial Meeting, the outcome of that Meeting led to certain significant results:

- In major development, under the Bangladesh Chairmanship, the sectors have been expanded to thirteen, including new sectors like Poverty Alleviation, Cultural Cooperation, Terrorism and Transnational Crime, Environment and Disaster Management, Public Health and People-to-People Contact.

- While articulating the future directions, Bangladesh proposed to address the institutional issues like the necessity of a Charter, Rules of Procedure and a Permanent Secretariat. While member states felt that the question of Charter and Rules of Procedure could be addressed, they agreed to establish a permanent secretariat.

- We also decided to hold the first ever BIMSTEC Film Festival. India will hold it in early 2007 where a Bangladeshi film 'Antarjtra' has already been nominated';

- We have started discussion on introducing a BIMSTEC Business Travel Card;

- We decided to establish two BIMSTEC Centres on Energy and Weather & Climate;

- At Bangladesh's instance, in the areas of agriculture, cooperation in germplasm, post-harvest technology, marketing, human resources development, research and development in horticulture, floriculture, spices, food processing was agreed upon;

- Bangladesh also proposed to conduct two studies to assess the marine life and fisheries stock in the Bay of Bengal;

- We also decided to hold a BIMSTEC Ministerial Meeting on Poverty Alleviation.

Since inception in 1997, BIMSTEC's activities have been structured across six major sectors and related sub-sectors: Trade and Investment, Transport and Communication, Tourism, Energy, Technology, Agriculture and Fisheries. In each sector, there is a Chair Country. Bangladesh is the current Chair Country for Trade and Investment sector. We shall review the progress in all these sectors and the related sub-sectors since the last Meeting in Dhaka in December 2005.

Of many sectors, trade and investment has been a key sector. Since our last Meeting, the Trade Negotiating Committee (TNC) has been negotiating on finalizing the BIMSTEC FTA for Trade in Goods. Only last month, experts met in Colombo. Though we have missed the deadline to conclude the negotiations by 1 July 2006, we are hopeful to conclude the negotiations soon and before the second Summit in early 2007 in New Delhi. Our aim is to formally launch the FTA in Goods in Delhi. Once the negotiations conclude, the experts will initiate negotiations on Trade in Services and Investment.

We shall also follow up on the decisions taken at the First BIMSTEC Summit that was held in Bangkok in July 2004. These relate to people-to-people contact, BIMSTEC Business Travel Card, private sector cooperation.

Considering BIMSTEC's growing importance, Asian Development Bank has shown interest to collaborate with BIMSTEC. They have proposed to undertake a Transport and logistic Study, similar to the one that has been undertaken in SAARC. We shall discuss that as well.

The Ministers will discuss progress in all the priority areas of cooperation. They will also reflect on future directions for the grouping. They will exchange views on making BIMSTEC a more open, forward-looking organization and to build external linkages. You may be aware that last month our BIISS organized a workshop with Japan-based Sasakawa Foundation in Dhaka on possible linkages or relation between BIMSTEC and Japan. A number of ideas came up during discussions in presence of participants from other member states. We shall reflect on such questions informally.

We recognize that as BIMSTEC Agenda has expanded over the past eight years, a small-scale coordination or secretariat setup is perhaps necessary. I should tell you that we took the lead by proposing the Terms of Reference for the Inter-governmental Experts group that was set up accordingly. That Group has met in Bangkok last month where we also provided a lead role.

At the end of the meeting, the Ministers will adopt a Joint Statement.

I thank you all