Background
The Bay of Bengal region is renowned for its abundant agricultural diversity, varied climates and diverse landscapes. Agriculture serves as a fundamental source of employment across the BIMSTEC member States and plays a vital role in shaping the region’s economy. Recognizing the salience of agriculture and allied sectors for sustainable development and regional food security, the 8th BIMSTEC Ministerial Meeting held in Dhaka, Bangladesh on 19 December 2005 decided to add agriculture as one of the sectors of BIMSTEC cooperation.
The 5th BIMSTEC Summit held in Colombo, Sri Lanka on 30 March 2022 adopted rationalization of sectors and sub-sectors of BIMSTEC, and agriculture was reconstituted as Agriculture and Food Security Sector, which consists of two sub-sectors: (i) Agriculture including food security and (ii) Fisheries and livestock sub-sector.
Significant progress has been made in creating institutional framework for forging regional cooperation in agriculture and allied sectors. Expert Group on Agricultural Cooperation (EGAC) was established in 2007, as the primary institutional mechanism to deliberate the future course of regional cooperation in agriculture and it has convened 11 Meetings, since its inception. To guide regional cooperation in agriculture and allied sectors, the Senior Officials’ Meeting (SOM-A) and the BIMSTEC Agriculture Ministerial Meeting (BAMM) were institutionalized in 2019.
Institutional Mechanism
i. BIMSTEC Agriculture Ministerial Meeting
BIMSTEC Agriculture Ministerial Meeting is a policy making body for Agriculture and Food Security Sector which comprises the Ministers responsible for Agriculture of the member States. The BAMM, preceded by Senior Officials Meeting on Agriculture, provides a high-level platform for policy dialogue, decision-making, enabling member States to review progress, endorse regional initiatives and mobilize collective action to strengthen regional cooperation in agriculture, fisheries and livestock sector.
The 1st BAMM, held in Nay Pyi Taw, Myanmar on 12 July 2019, called upon member States to deepen cooperation in agriculture and allied sectors to attain food and nutrition security and agreed to convene the Ministerial Meeting once in two years. Accordingly, the 2nd BAMM was held virtually in New Delhi, India on 10 November 2022, and adopted the BIMSTEC Plan of Action on Strengthening Agricultural Cooperation.
The 3rd BAMM was held in Kathmandu, Nepal on 09 April 2025. Apart from the adoption of the Plan of Action on Fisheries and Livestock, some significant initiatives were considered by member States such as establishment of BIMSTEC Food Reserve; creation of a BIMSTEC Seed Bank; promotion of regional trade in agricultural commodities and creation of a Sub-group under Expert Group of Agricultural Cooperation on Intra-regional Agricultural Trade.
ii. BIMSTEC Senior Official's Meeting on Agriculture
The Senior Officials’ Meeting comprises of the Secretaries/appropriate Senior Officials of member States dealing with agriculture of the member States. It has met three times and the Third Senior Officials’ Meeting on Agriculture was held on 08 April 2025 in Kathmandu, Nepal.
iii. Expert Group Meeting on Agricultural Cooperation comprises of Senior Officials dealing with coordination, monitoring and reviewing progress upon all issues to promote agricultural cooperation in the region, including implementation of the Plan of Action on Strengthening Agricultural Cooperation among the member States. The Meeting of Expert Group on Agricultural Cooperation is being held at reasonable intervals and so far, the Expert Group has met eleven times. The 11th Meeting of the Expert Group on Agricultural Cooperation was held in Phuket, Thailand on 28-30 March 2025.
Flow Chart for reporting and decision-making mechanisms of the BIMSTEC Agricultural Cooperation
Plan of Action on Strengthening BIMSTEC Agricultural Cooperation
One of the major achievements in Agriculture Sector was adoption of Plan of Action on Strengthening BIMSTEC Agricultural Cooperation in 2022. The Plan of Action has identified 17 Action Points focusing on five areas of agricultural cooperation namely (i) Increasing Agricultural Productivity, (ii) Promoting Sustainable Agricultural Practices, (iii) Enhancing Agricultural Trade and Investment, (iv) Promoting Agricultural Research and Development and (v) Improving Food Security and Nutrition, with the broader objectives to ensure food security, food safety and better nutrition, reduce rural poverty as well as increase resilience to climate change.
As part of the implementation of activities pertaining to the above Plan of Action, member States have conducted Seminar, workshops, training and capacity building programmes to strengthen cooperation among member States.
Activities
Member States regularly update and propose new activities to deepen the BIMSTEC agricultural cooperation. The following activities/projects of Plan of Action on Agricultural Cooperation have been implemented:
• BIMSTEC Scholarship on Agriculture: At the First BIMSTEC Ministerial Meeting on Agriculture and following up on the discussion during the First Senior Officials Meeting on Agriculture, India offered a fully funded BIMSTEC Scholarship on Agriculture - 06 slots for Masters and 06 slots for Ph.D program, one Master's and one Ph.D slot for each BIMSTEC member state. The scholarships started in 2021-2022 academic year. Following successful conclusion of the 2022-2023 academic year, India has extended the scholarship program and requested member states to submit their nominations for the BIMSTEC Scholarship Program for the 2023-2024 academic year.
• Good Agriculture Practices in BIMSTEC Region: BIMSTEC is promoting Good Agricultural Practices (GAP) in the Bay of Bengal area as an integrated effort to address difficulties and promote sustainable agricultural growth. The Member States developed comprehensive papers that focused on each of their agriculture sectors. The Comprehensive Papers on GAP Experience examine GAP experience in the BIMSTEC area, analyzing agricultural methods, best practices, and areas for improvement through reviewing initiatives, policies, and technology in member nations. The purpose of these Papers is to dive into the GAP experience in the BIMSTEC area, examining different agricultural methods that have been effectively applied to address the region's particular issues.
• Myanmar hosted Regional Seminar on Food Security and Sustainable Food Systems in BIMSTEC on 25 January 2023 in virtual mode, which made substantial recommendations to improve the food security situation in BIMSTEC region.
• India organized two virtual Workshops: a virtual Workshop on “Recent Advances in Diagnosis and Control of Emerging and Re-Emerging Zoonoses” from 25 to 30 September 2023; and another virtual Workshop on "Epidemiological Approaches to Prevent and Control Transboundary Animal Diseases with a focus on Zoonotic Diseases and Foot and Mouth Disease" from 03 to 12 October 2023.
• India hosted two 2 week-long virtual training programmes for BIMSTEC member States to build competence and capacity in Agriculture. The training program on Pest Management was held virtually from 06-17 November 2023, and the training on “Remote Sensing for Agricultural Applications” was held from 04-15 December 2023.
• Bangladesh hosted the 2nd Workshop on the Promotion of Agriculture, Trade, and Investment among BIMSTEC Member States on 24 December 2024 in virtual mode, which made recommendations to improve the agricultural trade and investment in the region.
• Myanmar hosted a virtual Workshop on “Sharing National Export Strategies to Enhance Agricultural Trade and Investment” on 18 June 2025. It discussed various ways to strengthen cooperation among the member States to promote intra-regional agricultural trade.
• A Workshop on “Mountain Agriculture Technology in the Context of Climate Change and Food System Transformation” was held on 25–26 June 2025 in Kathmandu, Nepal. It focused on development of climate-resilient technologies, implementation of sustainable agricultural practices and strengthening of cooperative efforts among the BIMSTEC member States.
• Thailand hosted virtually a Workshop on “Enhancement of Legume Crop Seeds Production and Sustainable Build up Farmer Seed Networks” was held on 08-09 July 2025, which served as a platform to exchange best practices in legume seed technology, and application of modern agricultural technologies to strengthen regional cooperation in sustainable agriculture.
• India shared a Concept Note on establishment of BIMSTEC Center of Excellence in Agriculture on 21 May 2025, which is under consideration of the member States.
• With the member States having nominated their respective Nodal Agricultural Research and Development Institutions, along with the contact details of designated focal persons, a BIMSTEC Network of Agricultural Research and Development Institutions has been formed in order to facilitate exchange of knowledge, best practices and technologies developed by each institution of the member States.
BIMSTEC Partnership with International Food Policy Research Institute
To maintain close and beneficial cooperation with existing international and regional organizations with similar aims and purposes is one of the purposes of BIMSTEC. In pursuit of this purpose, BIMSTEC Secretariat and the International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI) signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) on 05 March 2023 in Dhaka, Bangladesh.
IFPRI, a renowned organization, plays a pivotal role in providing research-based policy solutions to combat poverty, hunger, and malnutrition in developing countries. This partnership aims to address the pressing challenges related to food and climate security, as well as agricultural development in the BIMSTEC region. The collaboration between BIMSTEC and IFPRI signifies a significant step towards enhanced technical cooperation and capitalizing on the competencies and expertise of both organizations.
This partnership with IFPRI has already resulted in a range of training programmes and capacity building workshops. In addition, five BIMSTEC member States – Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Nepal and Thailand – together with two ASEAN member States – The Philippines and Vietnam – are participating in the Project entitled Agricultural Transformation and Market Integration Phase II (ATMI-II), jointly implemented by IFPRI; International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) and Southeast Asian Regional Center for Graduate Study and Research in Agriculture.
Agricultural information of the BIMSTEC Member States (viewmore)