Thailand has postponed its hosting of next month’s BIMSTEC summit of the leaders of seven mostly South Asian countries until after a new administration is
formed, its foreign ministry said on Friday.
Thailand currently has a caretaker government following a court’s dismissal of Srettha Thavisin as premier last week and his successor, Paetongtarn Shinawatra, has yet to name her cabinet.
The summit had been due to take place in Bangkok from Sept. 3-4. The Bay of Bengal Initiative for Multi-Sectoral Technical and Economic Cooperation (BIMSTEC) includes Thailand, India, Myanmar, Bangladesh, Nepal, Sri Lanka and Bhutan and its leaders
meet every two years for a summit.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi was scheduled to fly to Bangkok, capital of Thailand, on Sept. 3. Now of course everything is off pending new dates which will happen only when the new government is firmly in the saddle.
If the summit had gone ahead, Modi would have got an opportunity to meet Mohammad Yunus, chief adviser to the interim government. Although Yunus’ comments vis a vis India have been largely positive, there are various demands being made about extraditing ousted prime minister Sheikh Hasina to Dhaka. She is currently in Delhi.
India is keen that Bimstec take on the role of a more regional body but with Myanmar in civil war and Thailand’s politics still mired in battles between opposing forces, it’s not clear how Bimstec can evolve and come into its own.
Bimstec was founded in 1997 but has struggled to enhance connections and connectivity between South Asia and Southeast Asia. In that sense, Bimstec has a long way to go if it is to emerge as a credible alternative to the defunct SAARC (South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation).
SAARC floundered in the wake of India-Pakistan rivalries and concern among smaller neighbours that India was trying to use the organisation to dominate and control them. India refused to attend the SAARC summit in Islamabad in 2016, citing its role in the Uri terror attack. No summits have been held since then.
With Reuters inputs
