Bangladesh Pledges to Revitalize SAARC While Strengthening BIMSTEC Cooperation
State Minister for Foreign Affairs Shama Obaid Islam has underscored the necessity of fostering both SAARC and BIMSTEC as complementary regional platforms, asserting that their concurrent operation is essential for the collective development of South and Southeast Asian nations. Speaking at a seminar in Dhaka titled "Three Decades of BIMSTEC: Advancing Regional Cooperation for Shared Prosperity," the minister emphasized that both organizations remain vital conduits for regional integration and economic advancement.
Addressing the current status of the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC), the State Minister characterized it as a vision of the late President Ziaur Rahman aimed at enhancing connectivity and trade. While acknowledging that the initiative has lost significant momentum in recent years, she reiterated the government's commitment to reviving the bloc. She noted that revitalizing SAARC is a core component of the current administration’s electoral mandate, with a primary objective of ensuring that the organization delivers tangible benefits to the governments, economies, and citizens of its member states.
Regarding BIMSTEC, the State Minister highlighted its importance as a critical multilateral platform, particularly because its membership profile extends beyond the geographical boundaries of South Asia. As Bangladesh currently holds the presidency of BIMSTEC, she affirmed the nation’s firm resolve to transform regional pledges into concrete actions. She stressed the importance of institutional strengthening and pragmatic collaboration in key areas such as economic integration, trade, investment, and the blue economy.
The seminar, hosted by the Bangladesh Institute of International and Strategic Studies (BIISS), featured a comprehensive overview of regional priorities. BIMSTEC Secretary-General Indra Mani Pandey detailed ongoing projects across diverse sectors, including climate change adaptation, energy grid interconnections, cyber and maritime security, and counter-terrorism. He also highlighted efforts to facilitate tourism and streamline visa processes to encourage human-centric regional cooperation.
The event, chaired by Major General (retd) A.N.M. Muniruzzaman, president of the Bangladesh Institute of Peace and Security Studies, served as a forum for policy experts to discuss strategies for regional stability. Participants, including faculty from the University of Dhaka, examined methods to bolster regional resilience against global challenges, emphasizing that through unified and focused initiatives, BIMSTEC and SAARC can effectively function as pillars for long-term prosperity in the Bay of Bengal region.
