GS Paper 2 10 marks · 150w 9 min Medium

Do you think that BIMSTEC is a parallel organisation like the SAARC? What are the similarities and dissimilarities between the two? How are Indian foreign policy objectives realized by forming this new organisation?

Subtopic: International Relations · BIMSTEC, SAARC and regional groupings

Model answer outline

How to structure your answer

Introduction: BIMSTEC 1997, not parallel but complementary → Similarities: common members, consensus, development agenda → Dissimilarities: no Pakistan, inter-regional character, sectoral pillars, momentum contrast → Foreign policy gains: Neighbourhood First + Act East, isolating terrorism, connectivity and Bay of Bengal security → Conclusion: pragmatic reinvention of regionalism

Full model answer

Detailed model answer

191 words · target 150 words · 9 min

BIMSTEC, born of the 1997 Bangkok Declaration with seven members, is not a parallel SAARC but a complementary, Bay of Bengal-centred bridge between South and Southeast Asia that gained salience precisely where SAARC stalled.

Similarities

Five common members — India, Bangladesh, Bhutan, Nepal and Sri Lanka — and consensus-based decision-making.
Shared goals of regional integration, trade, connectivity and development; permanent secretariats in Dhaka and Kathmandu respectively.

Dissimilarities

BIMSTEC excludes Pakistan, insulating it from the India-Pakistan rivalry that froze SAARC after the cancelled 2016 Islamabad Summit.
It is inter-regional: Myanmar and Thailand link it to ASEAN, while SAARC is confined to South Asia.
It works through seven sectoral pillars, with India leading Security; SAARC has had a Charter since 1985, whereas BIMSTEC adopted its Charter only in 2022 (in force 2024) and held its Sixth Summit in Bangkok in 2025.

Serving India's foreign policy objectives

Converges Neighbourhood First with Act East and sidesteps Pakistan's effective veto on South Asian regionalism.
Anchors connectivity — the Kaladan Multimodal project and the India-Myanmar-Thailand Trilateral Highway — plus Bay of Bengal maritime security, blue economy and energy cooperation under SAGAR.

BIMSTEC is thus less a rival than India's pragmatic reinvention of regionalism around a functioning geography of shared interests.

Key points

What an examiner expects to see

Framing: BIMSTEC is complementary rather than parallel — Bay of Bengal-centred and inter-regional, while SAARC is confined to South Asia.
Similarities: five common members, consensus decision-making, development-focused agendas, permanent secretariats (Dhaka and Kathmandu).
Decisive dissimilarity: Pakistan's absence frees BIMSTEC from the bilateral rivalry that has frozen SAARC since the cancelled 2016 Islamabad Summit.
Institutional contrast: SAARC Charter since 1985 but summit-less since 2014; BIMSTEC Charter adopted 2022 (in force 2024), Sixth Summit held in Bangkok in 2025.
BIMSTEC operates through seven sectoral pillars with India leading the Security pillar.
Foreign policy gains: Neighbourhood First-Act East convergence, isolating cross-border terrorism, connectivity corridors, and Bay of Bengal maritime security and blue economy.

Examples to use

Concrete cases, schemes and judgments

2016: after the Uri attack India boycotted the Islamabad SAARC Summit and hosted BIMSTEC leaders at the Goa BRICS outreach
BIMSTEC Charter signed at the Fifth Summit (Colombo, 2022) and in force from 2024
Sixth BIMSTEC Summit, Bangkok 2025 — Vision 2030 and a maritime transport cooperation agreement
Kaladan Multimodal Transit Transport Project and the India-Myanmar-Thailand Trilateral Highway
SAARC's last summit was Kathmandu 2014; SAFTA (2006) remains under-implemented

Keywords / terms

Terminology to weave into the answer

Bay of Bengal communityNeighbourhood FirstAct East Policysectoral cooperation pillarsBIMSTEC Charterblue economy