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BIMSTEC

Part of International Relations — International Organizations and Agreements. Common notes for UPSC Mains GS-II.

UPSC

📌 Background & Key Features

  • Strategic rationale: Increasingly positioned as a pragmatic alternative to the moribund SAARC (paralysed by India-Pakistan tensions since 2016) — BIMSTEC excludes Pakistan and bridges South and Southeast Asia via the Bay of Bengal.
  • Charter: Signed at the 5th Summit (March 2022), institutionalising the grouping’s objectives around connectivity, trade, security and people-to-people ties across 22% of the world’s population.

📋 Quick Facts

Founded1997, Bangkok Declaration (originally BIST-EC)
MembersBangladesh, Bhutan, India, Myanmar, Nepal, Sri Lanka, Thailand
SecretariatDhaka, Bangladesh

📰 Current Affairs Linkage (2025-26)

  • The 6th BIMSTEC Summit (Bangkok, 4 April 2025, theme "Prosperous, Resilient and Open") adopted the Bangkok Vision 2030; India announced new BIMSTEC Centres of Excellence (disaster management, maritime transport, traditional medicine, agriculture) and the BODHI human-resource development programme.
  • India unveiled a 21-point action plan aligning BIMSTEC with Neighbourhood First, Act East, and the MAHASAGAR vision, and will host the first BIMSTEC Games in 2027.

🔖 60-Second Revision

  • Founded: 1997, Bangkok Declaration (originally BIST-EC)
  • Members: Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Myanmar, Nepal, Sri Lanka, Thailand
  • Secretariat: Dhaka, Bangladesh

📝 PYQs for Practice (Mains)

YearQuestionMarks
2021‘BIMSTEC is a bridge between South Asia and Southeast Asia and an opportunity to (Mains promote the neglected Northeast.’ Discuss. Practice)15