The Conference titled “BIMSTEC at its 20: Towards a Bay of Bengal Community” was held in BIMSTEC Secretariat, Dhaka on 20 March 2018. The conference was inaugurated by His Excellency Abul Hassan Mahmood Ali, MP, Hon’ble Foreign Minister, Government of the People’s Republic of Bangladesh. Members of Parliament,  High Commissioners/Ambassadors and  Diplomats from the BIMSTEC Member States at Dhaka,  Diplomats from other Embassies/High Commissions at Dhaka, representatives of various international organisations at Dhaka,  Government Officials,  Business leaders, Members of various Think Tanks, representatives of media, and other dignitaries from BIMSTEC Member States attended the Conference.

Concept Note and Programme :

Opening Ceremony :

• Presentation by BIMSTEC Secretariat
• Welcome Remarks by Ambassador M Shahidul Islam, Secretary General of BIMSTEC
• Address by Representative of Her Excellency Smt. Sushma Swaraj, Minister of External Affairs, Government of India
• Address by His Excellency Professor Dr. Chop Lal Bhusal, Ambassador of Nepal representing the BIMSTEC Chair
• Address by H E Mr. Abul Hassan Mahmood Ali, MP, Hon’ble Foreign Minister
• Launching of the publication titled “BIMSTEC Energy Outlook 2030”, SARI/EI, India
• Launching of the publication titled “Twenty Years of BIMSTEC: Promoting Regional Cooperation and Integration in the Bay of Bengal Region”, BIMSTEC Secretariat
• Launching of the publication titled “ Bridging the Bay of Bengal: Towards a Stronger BIMSTEC”, Carnegie India, New Delhi, India

Working Session :

Working Session I – Role of connectivity in BIMSTEC integration

Moderator: Dr. Sultan Hafeez Rahman, Executive Director, BRAC Institute of Governance and Development and former Director General, South Asia, ADB

• Transport connectivity to comprehensive connectivity in the Bay of Bengal region – Dr. Prabir De, Professor, Research and Information System for Developing Countries (RIS), New Delhi, India
• Digital connectivity in the Bay of Bengal region and beyond – Mr. Abu Saeed Khan, Senior Policy Fellow, LIRNEasia, Colombo, Sri Lanka
• BIMSTEC Grid Interconnection and regional energy trade – Dr. Ahmad Kaikaus, Secretary, Power Division, Ministry of Power, Energy and Mineral Resources, Government of Bangladesh
• Practical challenges in shipment: A regional perspective – Mr. Mahbub Anam, President, Bangladesh Freight Forwarders Association

Working Session II – Role of people-to-people contact in BIMSTEC integration

Moderator: Ambassador Muhammad Zamir, Chairman, Institute of Conflict, Law and Development Studies, Dhaka, Bangladesh

• What role BIMSTEC Network of Policy Think Tanks (BNPTT) can play to strengthen BIMSTEC Cooperation – Dr. Surat Horichailkul, Director, Indian Studies Centre of Chulalongkorn University, Bangkok, Thailand
• Engaging Parliamentarians in advancing people-to-people contact in BIMSTEC – Ms. Mahjabeen Khaled, MP, Hon’ble Member of Parliamentary Standing Committee on Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Bangladesh National Parliament Bangladesh National Parliament, and former President, Inter-Parliamentary Union(IPU)
• A realistic proposal for establishing the network of BIMSTEC Universities – Dr. Manzoor Ahmed, Professor Emeritus, BRAC Institute of Educational Development, Bangladesh
• Role of media in promoting Bay of Bengal identity – Mr.Toufique Imrose Khalidi, Editor-in-Chief, bdnews24.com

Working session III – Security cooperation in the Bay of Bengal region

Moderator: Ambassador Munshi Faiz Ahmad, Chairman, Board of Governors, Bangladesh Institute of International and Strategic Studies (BIISS)

• Countering Violent Extremism (CVE) in the Bay of Bengal region – Maj Gen A K M Abdur Rahman, Director General, Bangladesh Institute of International and Strategic Studies
• Urgency of regional cooperation to fight Drug Trafficking in the Bay of Bengal region – Mr. Sergey Kapinos, Representative, South Asia, UNODC, New Delhi Office, India
• Establishing the effective mechanism for information and intelligence sharing – Brig Gen (retd) Shakhawat Hussain, Security Analyst, Bangladesh
• Developing the Bay of Bengal region as a common security space – Ms. Joyeeta Bhattacharjee, PhD, Senior Fellow, Observer Research Foundation, India

Working Session IV – Economic Integration in the Bengal of Bengal region

Moderator: Professor Rehman Sobhan, Chairman, Centre for Policy Dialogue(CPD), Bangladesh

• Expediting tariff negotiations under the Framework Agreement for BIMSTEC Free Trade Area – Mr. Shubhashish Bose, Secretary, Ministry of Commerce, Government of Bangladesh
• Trade facilitation measures to promote intra-regional trade in BIMSTEC – Dr. Ahsan H Mansur, Executive Director, Policy Research Institute(PRI), Bangladesh
• Development of regional value chains and production network in the Bay of Bengal region – Professor Mustafizur Rahman, Distinguished Fellow, Centre for Policy Dialogue(CPD)

Concluding Session – Towards a Bay of Bengal Community

Special presentation:

• Defining the Bay of Bengal Community – Ambassador Kobsak Chutikul, Secretary-General of the Asian Peace and Reconciliation Council, Thailand

Special address:

• His Excellency Harsh Vardhan Shringla, High Commissioner of India and Special Guest
• His Excellency Dr. Gowher Rizvi, Hon’ble Adviser to Hon’ble Prime Minister on International Affairs, Prime Minister’s Office and Chief Guest
• Closing remarks by Ambassador M Shahidul Islam, Secretary General of BIMSTEC

Photographs :

Publications :

• “BIMSTEC Energy Outlook 2030”
• Bridging the Bay of Bengal: Towards a Stronger BIMSTEC

Media coverage :

• BIMSTEC conference begins in Dhaka to chart the new direction
• BIMSTEC forum can be alternative to LDC club for the region: Foreign Minister
• India sees BIMSTEC an ‘opportunity’ for the Bay of Bengal Region
• Invest in communications: Khalidi to BIMSTEC
• BIMSTEC conference begins in Dhaka to chart a new direction