NEW DELHI: Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Wednesday said that the war in Ukraine had “raised questions about the stability of the international order” and called for deepening regional cooperation among south and south-east Asian countries.
Virtually addressing the 5th BIMSTEC Summit, PM Modi called up BIMSTEC member states — Bangladesh, Bhutan, Myanmar, Nepal, Sri Lanka, and Thailand along with India – to prioritise regional security.
“We are still suffering from the impacts of the Covid-19 pandemic. Developments in Europe in the last few weeks have raised questions about stability of the international order. In this context, it has become even more important to make BIMSTEC more active,” he said.
Stressing on the need to boost regional connectivity among the BIMSTEC nations, PM Modi said that the Bay of Bengal called upon member states to work together for transforming the Bay of Bengal into Bridge of Connectivity, Bridge of Security, and Bridge of Prosperity.
The 5th BIMSTEC Summit on Wednesday adopted a ‘BIMSTEC Charter’ and ‘BIMSTEC Master Plan for Transport Connectivity’ by the member states.
The prime minister said that the countries of the regional grouping should focus on rapid implementation of the BIMSTEC master plan for transport connectivity.
“We should also focus on speeding up the ongoing connectivity initiatives. We need to develop a legal framework to establish a coastal shipping eco-system in the Bay of Bengal at the earliest,” he told the summit.
The BIMSTEC Charter proposes to hold a biennial summit and an annual meeting of foreign ministers. The summit has decided to set up an Eminent Persons’ Group for forming a vision document.
Prime Minister Modi also said that the member states should encourage interaction among their entrepreneurs and startups.
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The group has decided to establish BIMSTEC Centre on Weather and Climate to share knowledge and inputs in order to effectively deal with natural disasters and calamities. PM Modi, in his address, said India is ready to contribute USD 3 million to the centre.
India will additionally extend USD 1 million to increase the operational budget of BIMSTEC Secretariat, the PM said. He also proposed an agreement between law enforcement agencies of all member states.
PM Modi along with other BIMSTEC heads of states and foreign ministers virtually witnessed singing of several agreements including BIMSTEC Convention on Mutual Legal Assistance in Criminal Matters, BIMSTEC MoU on Mutual Cooperation in the field of Diplomatic Training and Memorandum of Association on Establishment of BIMSTEC Technology Transfer Facility.