BIMSTEC Summit, Rohingya Repatriation, Diplomacy, and the Prospects for Regional Coordination

The sixth summit of the Bay of Bengal Initiative for Multi-Sectoral Technical and Economic Cooperation (BIMSTEC), held in Bangkok on April 4, 2025, marked a pivotal turning point in the regional political and economic landscape of South and Southeast Asia. With Bangladesh taking over the two-year chairmanship of the bloc, the summit not only set ambitious targets for cooperation but also emerged as a critical moment of diplomatic maneuvering and geostrategic recalibration.

This summit, which unfolded under the theme of “Prosperous, Tolerant and Open BIMSTEC,” was attended by the heads of government of the seven member states bordering the Bay of Bengal—Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Myanmar, Nepal, Sri Lanka, and Thailand. The event served not merely as a ceremonial congregation but as a substantive dialogue among nations grappling with both shared opportunities and entrenched challenges.

With the mantle of leadership now resting on Bangladesh’s shoulders, the nation stands at the forefront of BIMSTEC’s agenda for regional cooperation. The appointment of Professor Dr. Muhammad Yunus, the Nobel Laureate and current Principal Advisor to Bangladesh’s interim government, as the face of its BIMSTEC leadership symbolizes a notable shift toward diplomatic finesse and technocratic engagement.

Professor Yunus’s address during the summit set a pragmatic yet ambitious tone. He identified fast-tracking the long-stalled BIMSTEC Free Trade Agreement (FTA) as a critical goal for the alliance. According to Yunus, regional trade liberalization is imperative for integrating the economies of BIMSTEC member states, especially in an era when global supply chains are being reconfigured amid geopolitical realignments.

Additionally, Yunus emphasized the implementation of the BIMSTEC Transport Connectivity Master Plan—a roadmap meant to strengthen infrastructural linkages across the region. This includes bolstering road, rail, and maritime connectivity to facilitate smoother intra-regional commerce and people-to-people ties. From Bangladesh’s standpoint, such infrastructural integration holds immense potential for transforming the nation into a transit hub between South and Southeast Asia.

Perhaps the most sensitive and symbolically significant achievement emerging from the summit was Myanmar’s reported commitment to begin the repatriation process of nearly 200,000 Rohingya refugees from Bangladesh. This diplomatic breakthrough is being hailed within Bangladeshi circles as a testament to Professor Yunus’s international stature and negotiation skills—something that previous administrations failed to secure despite prolonged efforts and global advocacy.

While it remains to be seen whether Myanmar will follow through on its promise in a sustainable and humane manner, the agreement does represent a rare moment of diplomatic alignment. For Bangladesh, which hosts nearly a million Rohingya refugees, many of whom live in overcrowded camps in Cox’s Bazar, the potential repatriation marks both a humanitarian and a geopolitical victory. It is also a litmus test for whether BIMSTEC can function as more than a forum of polite statements and actually address contentious security and refugee crises.

Overshadowing even the formal declarations of the summit was the widely discussed bilateral meeting between Professor Yunus and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi. In a closed-door discussion that was anything but perfunctory, the two leaders delved into a series of complex and historically fraught issues that have long strained relations between Dhaka and Delhi.

Among the major topics on the table were the extradition of former Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, currently residing in political asylum in India; the Teesta River water-sharing dispute; and the persistent issue of civilian killings along the Bangladesh-India border. According to diplomatic sources, Professor Yunus did not shy away from directly addressing the controversial political asylum granted to Hasina, describing it as a “fascist protection” that undermines Bangladesh’s sovereignty. Modi, for his part, was reportedly open to further dialogue.

In a shrewd symbolic gesture, Yunus presented Modi with a photograph taken a decade ago during more amicable times. The photo served as a reminder of the historical warmth between the two nations and underscored the power of personal diplomacy. While critics may dismiss such gestures as superficial, they often play a critical role in resetting strained diplomatic atmospheres.

This meeting also carried broader regional significance. With Bangladesh seeking to recalibrate its foreign policy amid growing Chinese inroads into South Asia, the Dhaka-Delhi axis is once again becoming a focal point in the great-power competition playing out across the Indo-Pacific.

Despite the summit’s optimistic overtones and well-articulated declarations, BIMSTEC’s efficacy as a regional bloc continues to be questioned. The organization’s slow pace in removing trade barriers, coupled with lingering political mistrust and asymmetrical economic capacities among its members, has hindered tangible progress.

While the adoption of the “Bangkok Vision 2030” during the summit presents a compelling blueprint for an inclusive, prosperous, and open regional architecture, the path to achieving that vision is riddled with structural and geopolitical impediments. For example, while initiatives like the India-Myanmar-Thailand Trilateral Highway and the Kaladan Multimodal Transit Transport Project are promising, their implementation has been delayed by bureaucratic inertia and infrastructural bottlenecks.

Moreover, the maritime transport agreement signed during the summit is expected to bolster connectivity and trade among coastal nations. Yet, differences in port infrastructure and regulatory frameworks continue to impede seamless maritime cooperation. This is particularly evident in the digital realm, where significant disparities in technological capacity among member states present another layer of complexity.

The Bangkok summit did register some institutional progress. Several agreements and memoranda of understanding were signed to provide legal and operational scaffolding for the bloc’s future actions. These included:

• The adoption of the BIMSTEC Charter and its accompanying Rules of Procedure, which aim to enhance institutional coherence.

• A memorandum of understanding (MoU) between BIMSTEC and the Indian Ocean Rim Association (IORA) to synergize maritime and economic efforts.

• Another MoU with the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC), aimed at strengthening the bloc’s response to organized crime, terrorism, and narcotics trafficking.

These institutional instruments are crucial steps toward formalizing BIMSTEC’s strategic functions, especially in areas like disaster preparedness, health security, and transnational crime control. Notably, India’s proposal for a regional disaster management center was endorsed, and Bangladesh’s advocacy for greater healthcare collaboration with Thailand received favorable attention.

Additionally, the establishment of the BIMSTEC Tropical Medicine Centre and proposals for increased youth engagement through a Youth Forum underscore a broadening of BIMSTEC’s scope into socio-economic and human development domains.

Beyond the summit’s formal outcomes, Professor Yunus utilized the platform to strengthen bilateral relations with several member states. He proposed reducing airfares and simplifying visa regimes with Thailand to enable better access to its healthcare system for Bangladeshi citizens. In discussions with Sri Lankan leaders, he sought technical collaboration to trace and recover laundered capital—an issue that has gained political traction amid recent financial scandals in Bangladesh.

His engagement with Nepal and Bhutan was also strategic. Yunus advocated for trilateral energy cooperation to import hydropower from the Himalayan nations, viewing regional electricity grids as pivotal for sustainable energy transitions.

As Bangladesh assumes the chairmanship of BIMSTEC, the challenge is clear: to convert aspirational documents and summit declarations into actionable programs with measurable outcomes. The region’s historical fault lines—ranging from unresolved border disputes to divergent national interests—have thus far impeded the development of a cohesive strategic identity.

In comparison to ASEAN’s relatively successful institutional framework and normative coherence, BIMSTEC suffers from a fragmented vision and under-resourced operational apparatus. The lack of a permanent financial mechanism, for instance, has severely curtailed the bloc’s ability to launch large-scale regional projects.

Yet, the possibilities remain immense. The Bay of Bengal region is home to 1.7 billion people and serves as a critical maritime trade corridor. Its geostrategic value is only increasing in the Indo-Pacific age. If BIMSTEC can leverage its unique geographical position, it can evolve into a powerful force for regional stability, economic growth, and collective resilience.

The success of BIMSTEC in the coming two years will hinge on the political will of its member states, especially Bangladesh and India. Without this, even the most elaborate frameworks and visionary documents will remain paper promises. Bangladesh, under Yunus’s interim leadership, now bears the responsibility of transforming the bloc from a passive discussion forum into a proactive vehicle for integration.

For Bangladesh, the benefits of a functioning BIMSTEC are multifaceted. Enhanced connectivity can boost its export competitiveness; regional cooperation can ease the burden of the Rohingya crisis; and institutional partnerships can modernize its economic and technological infrastructure. But these outcomes will require sustained engagement, robust diplomacy, and strategic foresight.

The sixth BIMSTEC summit has provided a fresh opportunity for member nations to rethink regionalism in an increasingly volatile global environment. While the achievements of the Bangkok summit should not be understated—the adoption of Vision 2030, institutional agreements, and diplomatic breakthroughs—they are merely the beginning of what must be a sustained and coordinated journey.

The coming years will test whether BIMSTEC can shed its image as a symbolic alliance and become a decisive actor in regional affairs. With geopolitical tensions intensifying in the Indo-Pacific and the global economy undergoing structural shifts, regional cooperation is not just desirable—it is imperative.

Bangladesh, through Professor Yunus’s stewardship, has a window of opportunity to guide BIMSTEC toward that transformative horizon. Whether the alliance seizes this moment or squanders it will determine its relevance in the decades to come.