Blitz Bureau
NEW DELHI: PRIME Minister Narendra Modi’s foreign visits have always testified to his global outreach, but his recent visits to Thailand and Sri Lanka acquired a special salience in the backdrop of the fast-changing global scenario.
The visits, in the first week of April, aimed at balancing regional ties, countering China and protecting the Indian economy from the headwinds of US President Donald Trump’s global trade war. As part of the visit, PM Modi attended the sixth BIMSTEC summit and held bilateral meetings with the leaders of Bhutan, Bangladesh, Myanmar and Nepal. More extensive talks followed with Thai leaders and, later, the Sri Lankans during the bilateral visit to Colombo.
BIMSTEC (Bay of Bengal Initiative for Multi-Sectoral Technical and Economic Cooperation) has five members of the South Asia (India, Bangladesh, Nepal, Bhutan, and Sri Lanka) and two from Southeast Asia (Thailand and Myanmar).
Created in 1997 to enhance regional cooperation, which India-Pakistan political differences were stymieing, it had progressed slowly. India revived the BIMSTEC grouping in 2016 after the SAARC summit was cancelled following a boycott by India in protest against Pakistan-sponsored terror attack in Uri.
“The group serves as a vital bridge between South and Southeast Asia, and is emerging as a powerful platform for advancing regional connectivity, cooperation and shared prosperity,” PM Modi said at the summit in Bangkok.
New initiatives
He announced a slew of new initiatives – from the mechanism of Home Ministers on security to UPI connecting payment mechanisms, an energy centre to a chamber of commerce. India, which was the first responder during the recent earthquake that rocked Myanmar and Thailand, plans to set up a BIMSTEC Centre of Excellence for Disaster Management in. During a meeting between PM Modi and his Thailand counterpart Paetongtarn Shinawatra, the two sides worked out a mechanism to bring together India’s ‘Act East’ and Thailand’s ‘Look West’ policies.
PM Modi’s visit to Colombo was his first visit after Sri Lankan President Anura Kumara Dissanayake assumed office last year. The two countries signed ten agreements in areas such as digital transformation, debt restructuring, and health and medicine. But the most significant was the landmark defence cooperation pact that aimed to formalise joint military exercises, training programmes and high-level exchanges.
“We believe that our security interests are similar. The security of both countries is interlinked and dependent on each other,” PM Modi said in his media statement.
