BIMSTEC Cooperation Report

The BIMSTEC economies have made substantial output gains in recent years, expanding at rates far exceeding the global averages. At the same time, there is no denying that what it has achieved in just 11 years of its existence has not been inconsiderable. Trade and FDI flows have expanded rapidly in the region, besides other remarkable achievements on the economic front. The region has made impressive strides in human development, but needs increased effort to catch up with the other regions of the globe and to achieve the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). Its integration with the global economy has opened new opportunities and challenges. However, lately, the region faces a new threat of a slowdown in growth in the wake of the global financial crisis. The point that CSIRD and ICC have tried to make in this report is that BIMSTEC can face these challenges much more effectively if it could achieve deeper regional integration. The report provides specific proposals in the fields of trade and investment, infrastructure, energy, tourism, fisheries and small and medium enterprises - all oriented towards intensifying the process of such regional cooperation.