Issues in FTA are being addressed, says BIMSTEC's Secretary General

Secretary General Sumith Nakandala made assurances that differences among member nations will be handled

In an interview with Shubhayan Chakraborty,  the Secretary General of the Bay of Bengal Initiative for Multi-Sectoral Technical and Economic Cooperation (BIMSTEC), Sumith Nakandala, discusses the future of the international organisation that is constituted by a group of countries from South and South East Asia. 

What are the major bottlenecks still holding back the Free Trade Agreement among BIMSTEC nations, even after 20 years of its first proposal ?

In 2004, the process of trade negotiation was started and the 19th meeting of the Trade Negotiating Committee was held in 2011. So, during that time, all member states agreed on a time frame for exchanging schedules of ministerial meetings. The agreement was that FTA will be done by end of 2011, but it didn't happen because one member didn't submit their recommendations. I had to convince them personally, after which they submitted it by end of November 2014.

Which country was it?

I can't tell you that but when the 20th meeting of the Trade Negotiating Committee was held in 2015, the entire trade scenario had changed in South and South East Asia and that is where we are stuck.

How do you see the agreement moving on from here?

Again there is one member state that wanted to revise the list of production-specific rules, wherein lies the problem. But we are addressing that. BIMSTEC is not dead and these differences that will be handled.

The trade agreement is negotiated based on reducing the number of goods in the restricted list rather than increasing the number of goods, which can be brought under free trade. Why this negative approach?

The Indo-Sri Lankan FTA was also based on the negative list approach. In BIMSTEC, the final aim is to redefine the negative list and ultimately remove it.

A number of countries have also expressed reservations about negotiations on services. How would you convince them?

All nations will have concerns when it comes to services. Especially on how to liberalise services or to what extent it can be done as well as the categories of services. So that will take some time. But, I'm sure the agreement on investment can come through because, by and large, all countries have liberalized the investment regime in various orders. So that can come.

What are the strong points of BIMSTEC as compared to SAARC?

The most positive thing in BIMSTEC is that there are no political conflicts or disagreements. Also, the South Asian countries don't have bilateral problems with the two South East Asian ones. And, historically, these nations were linked through trade ties over centuries. That is the strength of this organization.