BIMSTEC Member Participate In PM Narandra Modi’s Oath Ceremony | Burning Issues | PDF Download

NEIGHBOURHOOD FIRST AND ACT EAST

NOTES

• Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s oath ceremony at the Rashtrapati Bhavan will be attended by leaders of the BIMSTEC member countries, in line with the government’s “Neighbourhood First” policy, the foreign ministry said in a statement.
• The notable omissions in the neighbourhood are Pakistan and its key ally China. In 2014, leaders of SAARC countries, which included then-Pakistani Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, were invited for PM Modi’s oath ceremony.

BIMSTEC

• The Bay of Bengal Initiative for Multi-Sectoral Technical and Economic Cooperation (BIMSTEC) is an international organisation of seven nations of South Asia and South East Asia, housing 1.5 billion people and having a combined gross domestic product of $3.5 trillion (2018)
• The BIMSTEC member states— Bangladesh, India, Myanmar, Sri Lanka, Thailand , Nepal and Bhutan are among the countries dependent on the Bay of Bengal.

SAARC DYING

• The 19th SAARC Summit was originally scheduled to be held in Islamabad in November 2016.
• However, following the pull-out of India and three other countries (Bangladesh, Bhutan, and Afghanistan) after the Uri terrorist attack, the Summit was postponed indefinitely.

SAARC OBSERVER COUNTRIES

• States with observer status include Australia, China, the European Union, Iran, Japan, Mauritius, Myanmar, South Korea and the United States.

 WHY IS BIMSTEC SO IMPORTANT FOR INDIA?

WHY IS BIMSTEC SO IMPORTANT FOR INDIA?

• In terms of connectivity, Bimstec has at last three major projects
• One is the Kaladan Multimodal project that seeks to link India and Myanmar. The project envisages connecting Kolkata to Sittwe port in Myanmar, and then Mizoram by river and road. India and Myanmar had signed a framework agreement in 2008 for the implementation of this project. It’s yet to be finished.

WHY IS BIMSTEC SO IMPORTANT FOR INDIA?

• Another is the Asian Trilateral Highway connecting India and Thailand through Myanmar. The highway will run from Moreh in Manipur to Mae Sot in Thailand via Myanmar and represents a significant step in establishing connectivity between India and Southeast Asian countries.
• Bangladesh, Bhutan, India and Nepal (BBIN) have signed a pact for the movement of goods and vehicles among them.

BIMSTEC SUMMITS

• The leaders of Kyrgyzstan and Mauritius have also been invited

KYRGYZSTAN

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