Date: Dec 06, 2017

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.

Venue Address

Conference Hall, ORF New Delhi