South Asian and Bay of Bengal regionalism

The first principle

Neighbours gain most when they trade, travel and solve common problems together, which is why regions build organisations. But a regional body moves only as fast as its most reluctant member, and when two members are locked in conflict the whole body stalls. South Asia shows both truths: the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) was frozen by India Pakistan hostility, so India has shifted its energy to groupings that leave that conflict out and look east and to the sea, chiefly the Bay of Bengal Initiative for Multi Sectoral Technical and Economic Cooperation (BIMSTEC).

The core

SAARC: the comprehensive body that stalled

• Origins and members. SAARC was founded at Dhaka on 8 December 1985 by Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, the Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan and Sri Lanka, and Afghanistan joined in 2007 to make eight. Its secretariat is in Kathmandu.
• Design. Its Charter requires decisions by unanimity and excludes "bilateral and contentious issues", so any single member can block progress and the region's real disputes are kept off the table.
• Trade. The South Asian Free Trade Area (SAFTA), signed in 2004 and in force from 2006, followed the South Asian Preferential Trading Arrangement (SAPTA) of 1995. Long sensitive lists, non tariff barriers, poor transport links and Pakistan's refusal to give India most favoured nation (MFN) treatment kept intra regional trade at about 5 per cent of the region's total trade, among the lowest of any region, according to the World Bank.
• Why it stalled. The last summit was held at Kathmandu in 2014, where Pakistan held back agreements on motor vehicles and railways. The nineteenth summit, due at Islamabad in 2016, was called off after the Uri terror attack, when India and then Afghanistan, Bangladesh and Bhutan declined to attend. India's position is that cooperation cannot go forward while cross border terrorism continues.
• What survives. SAARC still runs the South Asian University in New Delhi, the SAARC Development Fund in Thimphu and technical bodies, and in March 2020 India proposed a SAARC COVID 19 Emergency Fund. After the Pahalgam attack in April 2025, India cancelled visas issued to Pakistani nationals under the SAARC Visa Exemption Scheme.

BIMSTEC: the Bay of Bengal grouping

• Origins. The 1997 Bangkok Declaration created a grouping of Bangladesh, India, Sri Lanka and Thailand, which Myanmar joined the same year and Nepal and Bhutan in 2004, when it took its present name. Its seven members link five South Asian states with two Southeast Asian ones, and its secretariat opened in Dhaka in 2014.
• Charter. For twenty five years BIMSTEC worked without a founding treaty. The BIMSTEC Charter was adopted at the Colombo summit in March 2022 and came into force in 2024, giving the body legal personality, regular summits and a clearer structure.
• Sectoral approach. In 2022 the many areas of cooperation were reorganised into seven sectors, each led by one member, with India leading security, which covers counter terrorism, transnational crime, disaster management and energy.
• Connectivity. The Master Plan for Transport Connectivity, adopted in 2022 with support from the Asian Development Bank, lists road, rail, port and inland water projects to link the members. At the Bangkok summit in April 2025, leaders adopted the Bangkok Vision 2030 and signed an agreement on maritime transport cooperation.
• Weak spots. A framework for a free trade area was signed in 2004 but no free trade agreement is yet in force, the secretariat is small, and summits have been infrequent.

Dimensions

Is BIMSTEC a parallel SAARC?

• Similarities. Five members are common to both; both work by consensus and summit diplomacy, both aim at trade, connectivity and disaster cooperation, and both have been held back by weak secretariats and slow trade liberalisation.
• Differences. BIMSTEC leaves out Pakistan, Afghanistan and the Maldives and includes Myanmar and Thailand, so it is defined by the Bay of Bengal rather than by the subcontinent. It is sectoral rather than comprehensive, has not been paralysed by any single bilateral dispute, and bridges South and Southeast Asia, while SAARC is confined to South Asia.
• Judgement. BIMSTEC is better seen as complementary than parallel: India does not seek to replace SAARC formally, but it has shifted the practical work of regional cooperation to a forum where it can move forward. Critics warn that if BIMSTEC is seen merely as "SAARC minus Pakistan", members may treat it as an Indian project rather than their own.

How BIMSTEC serves India's objectives

• Neighbourhood First and Act East together. BIMSTEC is the one forum where both policies meet, linking India's South Asian neighbours to the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) through Myanmar and Thailand.
• The northeast. Links across Bangladesh and Myanmar, such as the Kaladan project and the Trilateral Highway, give the landlocked northeast a route to the sea and to Southeast Asia.
• Bay of Bengal security. Cooperation on counter terrorism, maritime security and disaster relief helps India manage a sea that carries much of its eastern trade and borders its island territories of Andaman and Nicobar.
• Balancing China. China is active in every BIMSTEC country except India and Bhutan through ports and loans; a working BIMSTEC gives the smaller members regional options that do not run through Beijing.
• Energy. A memorandum on grid interconnection signed in 2018 supports cross border trade in electricity, which already flows from Bhutan and Nepal to India and, since November 2024, from Nepal through India to Bangladesh.

In practice

Sub regional and maritime groupings

• BBIN Motor Vehicles Agreement (2015). Bangladesh, Bhutan, India and Nepal (BBIN) signed it at Thimphu in June 2015 to let passenger and cargo vehicles cross borders without transshipment. Bhutan's upper house declined to ratify it over traffic and environmental concerns, and Bhutan let the other three go ahead, which shows how sub regional groups can move when a full region cannot.
• Indian Ocean Rim Association (IORA). Founded in 1997, with its secretariat in Mauritius, it has 23 member states around the Indian Ocean. Its priorities include maritime safety, trade, fisheries, disaster risk management and the blue economy, and it is the main body that brings together the whole rim from South Africa to Australia.
• Mekong Ganga Cooperation (2000). India and five Mekong states, Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar, Thailand and Vietnam, cooperate on tourism, culture, education and transport, and India funds quick impact projects in the Mekong countries.
• Colombo Security Conclave. A grouping of India, Sri Lanka, the Maldives, Mauritius and Bangladesh on maritime security, terrorism, trafficking, cyber security and disaster relief, it shows the same turn towards smaller, functional formats.

Issues and way forward

• Low trade integration. High tariffs, non tariff barriers and costly border crossings keep regional trade low; BIMSTEC needs to conclude its free trade agreement and agreements on customs and trade facilitation, with India taking the lead in opening its market.
• Connectivity gaps. Many projects in the Master Plan are delayed, especially through Myanmar; financing through the Asian Development Bank and partnership with Japan can speed them.
• Institutional weakness. The BIMSTEC secretariat has few staff and limited funds. A stronger secretariat, a regular calendar of summits and a development fund would give the body continuity.
• Politics of members. Changes of government and internal conflict, as in Myanmar since 2021, can slow any regional body; sectoral cooperation that benefits people directly is the best insurance.
• SAARC's future. SAARC cannot revive while terrorism from Pakistan continues, but its technical bodies and people to people programmes can be kept alive so that the door stays open.

Common confusions

• SAARC and SAFTA. SAARC is the organisation; SAFTA is the free trade agreement concluded under it.
• BIMSTEC and BBIN. BIMSTEC is a seven member regional body with a charter and secretariat; BBIN is a four member sub regional arrangement without a secretariat, built around specific agreements such as motor vehicles.
• IORA and IONS. IORA is an association of states on economic and maritime cooperation; the Indian Ocean Naval Symposium (IONS, 2008) is a forum of navies.
• Mekong Ganga Cooperation and Mekong Lancang Cooperation. The first is India's initiative with the Mekong states; the second is China's.

For the exam

• Keyword bank: SAARC, SAFTA, unanimity rule, Uri and the cancelled Islamabad summit, BIMSTEC Charter, sectoral cooperation, Bangkok Vision 2030, Master Plan for Transport Connectivity, bridge between South and Southeast Asia, BBIN Motor Vehicles Agreement, IORA, Mekong Ganga Cooperation, Colombo Security Conclave, sub regionalism, Act East.
• Practise the previous year questions on this topic →
• Use in an answer:
  • Introduction with data: "Intra regional trade makes up only about 5 per cent of South Asia's total trade, according to the World Bank, which is why India has looked beyond a stalled SAARC to the Bay of Bengal."
  • Introduction with an event: "With the entry into force of its Charter in 2024, BIMSTEC became a treaty based organisation, twenty seven years after the Bangkok Declaration created it."
  • Conclusion: "BIMSTEC is less a parallel SAARC than a working alternative, joining Neighbourhood First to Act East and the Indian Ocean to Southeast Asia."
  • Conclusion: "Regionalism in South Asia will deepen through small, functional groupings that deliver roads, grids and trade, while the door to a revived SAARC stays open for the day terrorism ends."