BIMSTEC—short for the Bay of Bengal Initiative for Multi-Sectoral Technical and Economic Cooperation—comprises seven member states: Bhutan, India, Nepal, Sri Lanka, Myanmar, Bangladesh, and Thailand. The BIMSTEC countries have a combined population of 1.73 billion people and a GDP of $5.2 trillion. Established in 1997, the bloc was initially known as BIST-EC, including only Bangladesh, India, Sri Lanka, and Thailand. Myanmar joined later that year, followed by Nepal and Bhutan in 2004.

Key agreements to watch out for include the Maritime Transport Cooperation Agreement, set to boost trade and travel across the Bay of Bengal. Other than this, MoUs with the Indian Ocean Rim Association and UNODC (or the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime) are also in the pipeline and will unlock new partnerships, strengthening regional ties and security.

Every region aspires to come together as a group of nations so that their trade connections deepen, cooperation and assistance in terms of security and technology are enhanced, and their voice on the global stage grows. Europe has the European Union for it. Southeast Asia has the ASEAN. Africa has the African Union. These are just to name a few. Their mandates may vary in size and scale, just as their outcomes do, but more often than not, they make a dent, and that makes groupings like BIMSTEC worth a shot.

BIMSTEC has been envisioned to emulate the success of ASEAN as an economic bloc and has tremendous potential. Historically, the Bay of Bengal was bustling with trade between India and Southeast Asia, bringing prosperity to kingdoms across the length and breadth of their contiguous coastline.

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