BIMSTEC

• The Bay of Bengal Initiative for Multi-Sectoral Technical and Economic Cooperation (BIMSTEC) is a regional multilateral organisation.
• Its members lie in the littoral and adjacent areas of the Bay of Bengal constituting a contiguous regional unity.
• Out of the 7 members,
  • Five are from South Asia –
  •  
    • Bangladesh
    • Bhutan
    • India
    • Nepal
    • Sri Lanka
  • Two are from Southeast Asia –
    • Myanmar
    • Thailand
• BIMSTEC not only connects South and Southeast Asia, but also the ecologies of the Great Himalayas and the Bay of Bengal.
• It mainly aims to create an enabling environment for rapid economic development; accelerate social progress; and promote collaboration on matters of common interest in the region.

Genesis of BIMSTEC

• This sub-regional organization came into being in 1997 through the Bangkok Declaration.

• Initially, it was formed with four Member States with the acronym ‘BIST-EC’ (Bangladesh, India, Sri-Lanka and Thailand Economic Cooperation).
• It became renamed ‘BIMST-EC’ in 1997, following the inclusion of Myanmar.
• With the admission of Nepal and Bhutan in 2004, the name of the grouping was changed to ‘Bay of Bengal Initiative for Multi-Sectoral Technical and Economic Cooperation’ (BIMSTEC).

Objectives

• Creating an enabling environment for the rapid economic development of the sub-region.

• Encouraging the spirit of equality and partnership.
• Promoting active collaboration and mutual assistance in the areas of common interests of the member countries
• Accelerating support for each other in the fields of education, science, and technology, etc.

Principles of BIMSTEC

• Sovereign Equality
• Territorial Integrity
• Political Independence
• No-interference in Internal Affairs
• Peaceful Co- existence
• Mutual Benefit
• Constitute an addition to and not be a substitute for bilateral, regional or multilateral cooperation involving the Member States.

Potential

• Bridge between South and South East Asia and represents a reinforcement of relations among these countries.
• Platform for intra-regional cooperation between SAARC and ASEAN members.
• Home to around 1.5 billion people that constitute around 22% of the global population.
• With a combined gross domestic product (GDP) of 2.7 trillion economy, BIMSTEC Member States have been able to sustain an average 6.5% economic growth trajectory in the last five years.
• A fourth of the world’s traded goods cross the bay every year.
• Important Connectivity Projects:
  • Kaladan Multimodal Project – links India and Myanmar.
  • Asian Trilateral Highway - connecting India and Thailand through Myanmar.
  • Bangladesh-Bhutan-India-Nepal (BBIN) Motor Vehicles Agreement - for seamless flow of passenger and cargo traffic.

Significance for India

• Allows India to pursue three core policies:

  • Neighborhood First - primacy to the country’s immediate periphery;
  • Act East - connect India with Southeast Asia; and
  • Economic development of India’s northeastern states – by linking them to the Bay of Bengal region via Bangladesh and Myanmar.
• Allows India to counter China’s creeping influence in countries around the Bay of Bengal due to the spread of its Belt and Road Initiative.
• A new platform for India to engage with its neighbors with South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) becoming dysfunctional because of differences between India and Pakistan.

Areas of Cooperation

• Trade and Investment
• Technology
• Energy
• Transportation and Communication
• Tourism
• Fisheries
• Agriculture
• Cultural Cooperation
• Environment and Disaster Management
• Public Health
• People-to-People Contact
• Poverty Alleviation
• Counter Terrorism and Transnational Crime
• Climate Change

Institutional Mechanisms

• BIMSTEC Summit – highest policymaking body in BIMSTEC process and is comprised of heads of state/government of member states.
• Ministerial Meeting – second apex policy-making forum of BIMSTEC attended by the External/Foreign Ministers of Member States.
• Senior Officials’ Meeting – represented by Senior Officials of Foreign Ministries of the Member States.
• BIMSTEC Working Group – attended by Ambassadors of BIMSTEC Member Countries to Bangladesh or their representatives on a monthly basis at the BIMSTEC Secretariat in Dhaka.
• Business Forum & Economic Forum – the two important forums to ensure active participation of private sector.

Challenges

Though largely devoid of bilateral tensions, as is the case in SAARC, BIMSTEC does not seem to have made much progress.

• Inconsistency in Meetings: BIMSTEC planned to hold summits every two years, ministerial meetings every year, but only four summits have taken place in 20 years upto 2018.
• Neglect by member states: It seems that India has used BIMSTEC only when it fails to work through SAARC in the regional setting and other major members like Thailand and Myanmar are focused more towards ASEAN than BIMSTEC.
• Broad Focus Areas: The focus of BIMSTEC is very wide, including 14 areas of cooperation like connectivity, public health, agriculture etc. It is suggested that BIMSTEC should remain committed to small focus areas and cooperate in them efficiently.
• Bilateral Issues between Member Nations: Bangladesh is facing one of the worst refugee crisis of Rohingyas from Myanmar who are fleeing prosecution in the state of Rakhine in Myanmar. There is a border conflict between Myanmar and Thailand.
• No FTA: BIMSTEC FTA was negotiated in 2004, talks on it are yet to be concluded.
• BCIM: The formation of another sub-regional initiative, the Bangladesh-China-India-Myanmar (BCIM) Forum, with the proactive membership of China, has created more doubts about the exclusive potential of BIMSTEC.

Utility SAARC vs BIMSTEC

Way forward

• Since the BIMSTEC region is notable for its diversity, the member states need to build on the regional synergies and work towards utilising the available resources in the most optimal manner.
• This would help build a stronger and a more dynamic BIMSTEC.

What is G20?

• The G20 is an informal group of 19 countries and the European Union, with representatives of the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank.
• The G20 membership comprises a mix of the world’s largest advanced and emerging economies, representing about two-thirds of the world’s population, 85% of global gross domestic product, 80% of global investment and over 75% of global trade.

Origin

• 1997-1999 ASIAN Financial Crisis: This was a ministerial-level forum which emerged after G7 invited both developed and developing economies. The finance ministers and central bank governors began meeting in 1999.
• Amid 2008 Financial Crisis the world saw the need for a new consensus building at the highest political level. It was decided that the G20 leaders would begin meeting once annually.
• To help prepare these summits, the G20 finance ministers and central bank governors continue to meet on their own twice a year. They meet at the same time as the International Monetary Fund and The World Bank.

How G20 Works?

• The work of G20 is divided into two tracks:
  • The finance track comprises all meetings with G20 finance ministers and central bank governors and their deputies. Meeting several times throughout the year they focus on monetary and fiscal issues, financial regulations, etc.
  • The Sherpa track focuses on broader issues such as political engagement, anti-corruption, development, energy, etc.
    • Each G20 country is represented by its Sherpa; who plans, guides, implements, etc. on behalf of the leader of their respective country. (Indian Sherpa, at the G20 in Argentina, 2018 was Shri Shaktikanta Das)

G20 Members

• The members of the G20 are Argentina, Australia, Brazil, Canada, China, France, Germany, India, Indonesia, Italy, Japan, Republic of Korea, Mexico, Russia, Saudi Arabia, South Africa, Turkey, the United Kingdom, the United States, and the European Union.
• Spain as a permanent, non-member invitee, also attends leader summits.

Structure and Functioning of G20

• The G20 Presidency rotates annually according to a system that ensures a regional balance over time.
• For the selection of presidency, the 19 countries are divided into 5 groups, each having no more than 4 countries. The presidency rotates between each group. Every year the G20 selects a country from another group to be president.
  India is in Group 2 which also has Russia, South Africa, and Turkey.
• The G20 does not have a permanent secretariat or Headquarters. Instead, the G20 president is responsible for bringing together the G20 agenda in consultation with other members and in response to developments in the global economy.
• TROIKA: Every year when a new country takes on the presidency (in this case Argentina 2018), it works hand in hand with the previous presidency (Germany, 2017) and the next presidency (Japan, 2019) and this is collectively known as TROIKA. This ensures continuity and consistency of the group’s agenda.

Cooperation

• In Toronto in 2010, leaders declared it to be the premier forum for global economic co-operation.
• The work of G20 members is supported by several international organisations that provide policy advice. These organisations include:
  • The Financial Stability Board (FSB). The FSB, which was established by G20 leaders following the onset of the global financial crisis,
  • The International Labour Organization (ILO).
  • The International Monetary Fund (IMF).
  • The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD)
  • United Nations (UN)
  • World Bank
  • The World Trade Organization (WTO)
• The G20 also regularly engages with non-government sectors. Engagement groups from business (B20), civil society (C20), labour (L20), think tanks (T20) and youth (Y20) are holding major events during the year, the outcomes of which will contribute to the deliberations of G20 leaders.

Issues Addressed by G20

• The G20 focuses on a broad agenda of issues of global importance, although, issues pertaining to the global economy dominate the agenda, additional items have become more important in recent years, like:
  • Financial markets
  • Tax and fiscal policy
  • Trade
  • Agriculture
  • Employment
  • Energy
  • Fight against corruption
  • Advancement of women in job market
  • 2030 agenda for Sustainable development
  • Climate Change
  • Global Health
  • Anti-terrorism
  • Inclusive entrepreneurship

India's Priorities in G20 Summits

• Checking tax evasion to fight corruption
• Choking terror funds
• Cutting the cost of remittances
• Market access for key drugs
• Reforms in the World Trade Organisation to improve its functioning
• “Full implementation” of the Paris Agreement

Achievements

• Flexible: With only 20 members, the G20 is agile enough to make prompt decisions and to adapt to new challenges.
• Inclusive: The inclusion every year of invited countries, international organizations and civil society organization through engagement groups allow for a broader and more comprehensive perspective when assessing global challenges and building consensus to address them.
• Coordinated action: The G-20 has also played a crucial role in strengthening the international financial regulatory system, including better coordination across countries.
• Facilitated an increase in lending from multilateral development banks of US$235 billion at a time when private sector sources of finance were diminished.
• Major achievements of the G20 include quick deployment of emergency funding during the 2008 global financial crisis.
• It also works for reforms in international financial institutions by improving oversight of national financial institutions. Such as G20 driven reforms to the international tax system, through the G20/OECD Base Erosion and Profit Shifting (BEPS) project and implementation of tax transparency standards.
• G20 played a critical role in the ratification of the Trade Facilitation Agreement, with the WTO estimating it could contribute up to somewhere between 5.4 and 8.7% to global GDP by 2030 if the agreement were fully implemented.
• Better Communication: G20 bring World’s top developed and developing countries together to bring consensus and reasoning into decision making through discussion.

Challenges

• No Enforcement mechanism: The G20’s toolkit ranges from simple exchanges of information and best practices to agreeing common, measurable targets, to coordinated action. None of this is achieved without consensus, nor is it enforceable, except for the incentive of peer review and public accountability.
• Not legally binding: the decisions are based on discussions and consensus which culminates in the form of declarations. These declarations are not legally binding. It’s just an advisory or consultative group of 20 members.

Way Forward

• The G20 cannot be a panacea for the world’s problems. But over the past 10 years, the G20 has been an important forum for international cooperation.
• Effective global governance, like the G20, is essential as rising powers seek opportunities to influence and contribute to the global order.

Group of Seven (G7)

• It is an intergovernmental organisation that was formed in 1975.
• The bloc meets annually to discuss issues of common interest like global economic governance, international security and energy policy.
• The G7 countries are the UK, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan and the US.
   
  • All the G7 countries and India are a part of  G20
• The G7 does not have a formal constitution or a fixed headquarters. The decisions taken by leaders during annual summits are non-binding.

Quad

• Quadrilateral Security Dialogue  is the informal strategic dialogue between India, USA, Japan and Australia with a shared objective to ensure and support a “free, open and prosperous” Indo-Pacific region.
• The idea of QURD was first mooted by Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe in 2007. However, the idea couldn’t move ahead with Australia pulling out of it, apparently due to Chinese pressure.
• In December 2012, Shinzo Abe again floated the concept of Asia’s “Democratic Security Diamond” involving Australia, India, Japan and the US to safeguard the maritime commons from the Indian Ocean to the western Pacific.
• In November 2017, India, the US, Australia and Japan gave shape to the long-pending "Quad" Coalition to develop a new strategy to keep the critical sea routes in the Indo-Pacific free of any influence (especially China).