Background

The Bay of Bengal Initiative for Multi-sectoral Technical and Economic Cooperation (BIMSTEC) is a subregional grouping combining some geographically contiguous South and Southeast Asian countries around the Bay of Bengal, namely, Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Myanmar, Nepal, Sri Lanka, and Thailand. The aim of this subregional grouping is to provide trade and technological cooperation among its members in the areas of trade and investment, tourism, transport and communication, technology, energy and fisheries. By signing the Framework Agreement to establish a Free Trade Area in February 2004, and through the Summit Declaration on July 31, 2004, BIMSTEC has received further momentum in launching the process of deeper integration in the region.   BIMSTEC is a US$ 800 billion economy, which contains a population of 1.32 billion. BIMSTEC economies have been growing at a faster pace than that of some other predominant regional blocs. In 2004, the region witnessed an average 5 percent growth rate in GDP and 4 percent in GDP per capita.  Having the experience of working on trade and development issues, the Centre for Studies in International Relations and Development (CSIRD) has taken up the challenge of exploring the possibility of enhancing comprehensive economic cooperation between BIMSTEC countries and Japan, which at present constitutes a larger proportion of BIMSTEC’s trade and investment