Security Cooperation amongst BIMSTEC nations pivotal for sustainable economic cooperation

Partha Roy, Kolkata: A day long BIMSTEC Security Cooperation seminar was organised by Ministry of External Affairs and Ministry of Culture, Government of India in collaboration with Institute of Social and Cultural Studies(ISCS) Kolkata and Maulana Abul Kalam Azad Institute of Asian Studies (MAKAIAS) Kolkata at ICCR in Kolkata on 31st March 2023.

BIMSTEC Security Cooperation seminar deliberated on Cyber Security, Counter -Terrorism ,Energy, Disaster Management. Shri Arup Raha former Air Chief Marshal of India was the Chief Guest. Vice Admiral (Retired) Shekhar Sinha former Commander in Chief Western Naval Command India, Captain (IN) Alok Bansal Director India Foundation, Captain Sarabjeet S Parmar of National Maritime Foundation India, Commander Srikant Kesnur former Director of Maritime Warfare Centre India were among the galaxy of speakers from various BIMSTEC nations who participated in the seminar.

Shri Arindam Mukherjee Director ISCS stressed multi -sectoral traditional & non traditional Security Cooperations are key to sustainable economic cooperation in the region which catalyse economic growth and prosperity in the region . Shri Arindam Mukherjee emphasized day long seminar provided opportunity to exchange thoughts and notes on various security issues amongst security experts of BIMSTEC nations.

Dr. Sarup Prasad Ghosh Director MAKAIAS mentioned under the leadership of visionary Prime Minister of India Shri Narendra Modi ‘s ” Act East ” policy BIMSTEC ‘s multi sectoral security cooperations , economic and trade development cooperation, Connectivity cooperation through road , rail , river, sea, air , cyber space , people to people connectivity , new path of healthy growth and development and prosperity will be created in the region. Bay of Bengal Initiative for Multi -sectoral Technical and Economic Cooperation (BIMSTEC) was established June 1997 with four founding member Bangladesh, India,Sri Lanka and Thailand . Bhutan, Myanmar and Nepal joined the group later on.

The pillar of security has been pivotal in BIMSTEC ‘s foundational multilateral structure of creating a regional organization encompassing South and South Asia. India being the lead country has been endeavouring to comprehensively manifest a three – fold approach of enhancing capacity building, sharing information for mutual cooperation for solutions, and forming a core group that would in turn lead to a “Track- I” fourm of implementations.

Presence of transnational actors in this regional security realm emphasize on ever-present Sea Lanes of Communication (SLOC’s). BIMSTEC as a policy has taken initiative to enhance energy cooperation and expand electricity trade. BIMSTEC Centre on Weather and Climate being hosted in India is fully functional and provides early disaster warnings.

Thailand, current Chair of BIMSTEC has taken initiatives to promote & facilitate implementation of Bio- Circular -Green Economy model by promoting regional renewable energy usage and biomass energy. As BIMSTEC is marking it’s 25th year , BIMSTEC as regional cooperation is instrumental in enhancing energy security as well as facilitating exchange of information and assess threat to retain development momentum in the region.