'Bangladesh relies on BIMSTEC after SAARC failure'

Bangladesh is hopeful of forging regional cooperation through BIMSTEC after the failure of SAARC, a top aide of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina said today.
"In this context coming together in BIMSTEC is truly important. We already saw earlier SAARC with all our high hopes has not done much, and for the moment it is doubtful whether or not the next summit meeting will happen," International Affairs Adviser Gowher Rizvi said at the opening of the BIMSTEC Network of Policy Think Tanks (BNPTT) meeting here at the Bay of Bengal grouping's headquarters.
He said Bangladesh hopes to make up through sub-regional cooperation including BIMSTEC after the failure of SAARC, bdnews24.Com reported.

"We have seen NAFTA may or may not survive. We see European Union under challenge. In Bangladesh we see much of the future in the sub-region. It is the sub-region we are focused on. We have BBIN, BCIM and BIMSTEC... This is where we see our future," Rizvi said, giving examples of the state of the regional groupings in the world.
The seven countries' grouping BIMSTEC connecting South Asia with the Southeast Asia received much attention after the last year's SAARC summit in Islamabad was postponed following tensions between India and Pakistan over terror attacks, the report said.
Some think tanks consider BIMSTEC as an alternative to SAARC as Pakistan is not part of this grouping, it said.

India's Research and Information System for Developing Countries, Bangladesh's Centre for Policy Dialogue, Bhutan's Royal Institute for Governance and Strategic Studies, Myanmar Institute of Strategic and International Studies, Nepal's Centre for Economic Development and Administration, Institute of Policy Studies of Sri Lanka and Thailand's Indian Studies Centre of Chulalongkorn University are the members of the BNPTT which was formed at the second summit in November 2008.

The grouping is promoting 14 priority sectors of development and common concerns including trade and investment, transport and communication, tourism and people- to-people contact.
Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi hosted BIMSTEC leaders in Goa last year during the BRICS summit. Hasina had attended the meeting.

BIMSTEC Secretary General Sumith Nakandala said their intention was to help the BIMSTEC think tank network "effectively carry out duties for policy advocacy in all 14 priority areas".
Rizvi thanked the secretary general for "truly revitalising BIMSTEC and giving it extraordinary sense of direction and energy", the report said.
He also urged the think tanks to come up with big ideas that "excite leaders to action and give them vision".
Foreign ministry's director general for SAARC and BIMSTEC Tareq Ahmed said Bangladesh is the founding member of BIMSTEC and it very much committed to its agenda.