Since its modest origin in June 1997, Bimstec has come a long way nearly 28 years later. It achieved very little until 2016 when, heeding sober voices that the grouping needed a leader, India stepped forward to host the first-ever retreat of its leaders, as well as their rich interaction with the leaders of BRICS in Goa. Two summits later, Bimstec armed itself with a brand-new Charter that came into operation last year, making the grouping a full-fledged inter-governmental organisation guided by a common mandate.

The principal achievement of the latest summit is that Bimstec has adopted ‘Vision 2030’, a plan outlining its goals and objectives for the next five years. The vision document has three elements, identified in the subtitle: “A Prosperous, Resilient, and Open BIMSTEC by 2030 for our people and future generations.” Aiming at prosperity for a region that contributes only 4.7% of the global GDP, while accounting for nearly 20% of the world’s population, may be ambitious, but the vision-architects are clear-headed and confident. They believe that through concrete steps such as promoting trade and investment, strengthening regional supply chains, expediting the implementation of the Poverty Plan of Action, and enhancing cooperation on food security, they can reach their common destination.

Resilience, the second element, will equip Bimstec with crisis preparedness, crisis responsiveness, and human security in various dimensions. This involves diverse domains such as greater cooperation for disaster relief, recovery, and reconstruction, increasing maritime cooperation, and promoting environmental protection.

Ultimately, an open Bimstec is envisioned, which promotes sustainable tourism and people-centric development, while enhancing collaboration among civil society, business, academia, and other stakeholders. The leaders have emphasised that progress toward achieving the vision will be secured through “a spirit of cooperation, solidarity, equal partnership, shared responsibility, and mutual benefit.”

The Bangkok summit also yielded other encouraging results. It welcomed the report of the Eminent Persons Group on the grouping’s future direction, emphasising the need for early implementation. The report should be made public so that advocates of Bimstec can support its contents and monitor the progress of its implementation. Additionally, as part of its push for connectivity, the Agreement on Maritime Transport Cooperation was signed, while the status of the Bimstec Master Plan for transport connectivity was reviewed.

However, there was little progress in securing the Free Trade Agreement. (FTA), a project that began over two decades back. After the early success in concluding the FTA framework agreement, governments have been stuck in negotiations for seven constituent agreements. Summit after summit, the leaders continue to direct officials to expedite their work. Once again, they did so by asking the Trade Negotiating Committee to finalise these agreements “without further delay.“ Thai Prime Minister Paetongtarn Shinawatra was perhaps the only leader who emphasised the significance of the FTA in a region where intra-regional trade currently accounts for as low as 6% of the total trade within the region. “The FTA,” she said, “will unlock the potential of the region, creating new opportunities for all our nations.” Was someone listening?

Other notable decisions include elevating dialogue on security matters to the level of home ministers and establishing a new mechanism for health ministers to advance cooperation in the health field. A special push is likely to promote tourism through various measures, including Buddhist circuits, temple circuits, and eco-tourism circuits. A development that may warm the hearts of maritime experts is the establishment of a new institutional arrangement for cooperation between Bimstec and the Indian Ocean Rim Association (IORA). The latter has Sri Lanka as the chair at present, which will pass on to India later in the year. Bimstec’s emphasis on realising the full potential of the Blue Economy assumes some significance as the group works to achieve its goal of establishing a Bay of Bengal Community.

Bimstec diplomats excel at crafting concise yet substantive documents that detail goals and programmes. They demonstrated this again en route to the Bangkok summit, but the decisions need to be implemented. This is where long-time watchers of the regional grouping have been stressing the need for a strong political commitment. This can be best ensured if monitoring, at the highest political levels, of progress in implementing the decisions takes place in all member governments. The 21-point action plan announced by PM Narendra Modi has a better chance of implementation because New Delhi has the will and the means.

Another critical requirement for BIMSTEC is that major bilateral relationships must remain free from tensions, as they can otherwise adversely impact this group. In this context, the role of Bangladesh as the next Chair and its relationship with two of its immediate neighbours, India and Myanmar, will be closely watched. Bangladesh is likely to undergo another power transition as elections are scheduled to take place at the end of 2025 or early 2026. It will be the responsibility of the next government to prepare for the 7th summit, which is likely to take place in the first half of 2027. The current dispensation in Dhaka must demonstrate leadership in implementing the decisions made in Bangkok.

Thus, the next phase of the regional grouping’s trajectory and its ability to translate its vision into reality will largely depend on the region’s political imperatives and geoeconomics.

Rajiv Bhatia is distinguished fellow at Gateway House, a former ambassador, and the author of three books on India’s foreign policy. The views expressed are personal