Opinion At BIMSTEC summit, an opportunity for India to strengthen its Act East Policy

In elevating India’s bilateral ties with Thailand to a strategic level and giving a fresh impetus to the Bay of Bengal regional forum, the Bay of Bengal Initiative for Multisectoral Technical and Economic Cooperation or BIMSTEC, Prime Minister Narendra Modi has strengthened the Act East policy and deepened India’s regionalism. The summit also provided a valuable opportunity to engage with leaders of two important neighbours – Bangladesh and Myanmar. Although Thailand is next door to the east of India, and the two countries are bound by historical and civilisational ties, Bangkok did not acquire the strategic profile it deserves in Delhi’s foreign policy map. Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore and, more recently, the Philippines, have dominated India’s mind space. Thailand is the second largest economy in Southeast Asia but only the fourth largest trading partner for India.

Modi’s brief sojourn in Bangkok, the first bilateral visit in more than a decade, has helped consolidate the efforts in the last few years in advancing bilateral ties. Thanks to Bangkok’s decision on visa-free travel for India, Thailand has become a major destination of leisure travel for the Indian middle classes. Meanwhile, there is growing cooperation between the security establishments of the two countries and the two sides have now agreed to intensify defence and advanced technology cooperation, especially in outer space. India’s deepening bilateral cooperation with Thailand also augurs well for revitalising the BIMSTEC forum that brings together five countries in South Asia (Bhutan, Bangladesh, India, Nepal and Sri Lanka) and two in South East Asia (Myanmar and Thailand). Launched in 1997, the forum has limped along without major advances in regionalism. The Modi government has invested additional energies in rebooting BIMSTEC after it was clear at the 2014 Kathmandu summit of SAARC that Pakistan was not going to allow any steps towards the regional economic integration of the Subcontinent. India’s efforts paved the way for greater institutionalisation of BIMSTEC in the form of a charter and more specific cooperation in a broad range of areas. The Bangkok summit saw the conclusion of a maritime transport cooperation agreement and adoption of a vision document for the forum.

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On the margins of the BIMSTEC summit, PM Modi met with the Senior General Min Aung Hlaing of Myanmar and offered assistance for the country to cope with the massive earthquake that has killed thousands and shaken a country already in deep crises. Growing instability in Myanmar marked by an intensifying civil war threatens to undo the very conception of BIMSTEC as a bridge between South and South East Asia. Myanmar’s increasing international isolation only makes matters worse. Modi’s meeting with Muhammad Yunus, the chief adviser of the interim government in Bangladesh, is a welcome first step in defusing the tensions between Delhi and Dhaka that had escalated since the ouster of Sheikh Hasina from power last August. While expressing India’s concerns on the violence against the Hindu minority in Bangladesh, the hostile rhetoric emanating from the new government, and the growing number of incidents on the border, the PM has highlighted India’s desire “to forge a positive and constructive relationship with Bangladesh based on pragmatism”. Delhi has a strong incentive in sustaining the progress in bilateral ties during the Hasina years. It is also aware that without productive engagement with Dhaka, there is no way of building the BIMSTEC as a credible regional forum.