There are significant commonalities of shared history, culture, language and lifestyle among the littorals that makes the Bay of Bengal Initiative for Multi-Sectoral Technical and Economic Cooperation, or BIMSTEC, a space for peace and development. The economic and resource potential of the Bay of Bengal region makes it strategically vital not only for Asia’s rising powers and its littorals, i.e. Bangladesh, Myanmar, Malaysia, Thailand, Singapore, Indonesia, Sri Lanka and India, but also for global powers like the US and China. In this region, constants of geography, maritime contiguity and climate offer immense opportunity for economic cooperation among member states.
Although for India, BIMSTEC is a natural platform to fulfil its key foreign policy priorities as Neighbourhood First and Act East, there are major issues that need to be addressed. These include: security challenges threatening the stability of the region, growth and development through increased trade and connectivity, opportunities for partnership on human development and natural resource management.
This conference will explore the following themes:
- Strengthening regional cooperation for greater security in the region.
- Reinvigorating regional growth through trade, connectivity and investment.
- Regional cooperation for social good: Human development and natural resource management.
Find the agenda here.
Speakers
Sunjoy Joshi, Chairman, ORF
Geraldine O’Callaghan, Deputy Director (Asia, Caribbean & Overseas Territories), Department for International Development (DFID), UK
Priti Saran, Secretary, Ministry of External Affairs, Government of India
Vikrom Mathur, Senior Fellow, ORF
Harsh V. Pant, Distinguished Fellow and Head Strategic Studies, ORF
Anurag Bhushan, Joint Secretary (ASEAN ML & South), Ministry of External Affairs, Government of India
Jayanath Colombage, Director, Centre for Indo-Lanka Initiatives, MMBL—pathfinder, Sri Lanka
Khin Zaw Win, Director, Tampadipa Institute, Myanmar
Shaheen Afroze, Director Research, Bangladesh Institute of International and Strategic Studies (BIIS), Dhaka, Bangladesh
Pinak Ranjan Chakravarty, Distinguished Fellow, ORF
Estiaque Bari, Senior Research Associate, Centre for Policy Dialogue, Bangladesh
Anasua Basu Ray Chaudhary, Fellow, ORF Kolkata
Sujeev Shakya, Founder CEO, BEED, Nepal
Prabir De, Coordinator, ASEAN-India Centre at the Research and Information System for Developing Countries (RIS)
Nisha Taneja, Professor, India Council for Research on International Economic Relations (ICRIER)
Aaron Savio Lobo, Advisor and Coordinator for Goa & Tamil Nadu, CMPA; Indo-German Biodiversity Programme
Md. Kamruzzaman, Research Associate, Centre for Policy Dialogue (CPD), Bangladesh
Dipak Gyawali, Director, Nepal Water Conservation Foundation; Pragya (Academician) Royal Nepal Academy of Science and Technology, Nepal
Tshering Dorji, Journalist, Kuensel, Bhutan
Suthikorn Kingkaew, Lecturer, Thammasat Business School International Business, Thailand
Tariq Karim, Former Bangladesh High Commissioner to India
Joyeeta Bhattacharjee, Senior Fellow, ORF
The timing of this event is from 9:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m.