These have been a busy few days for Indian diplomacy with Prime Minister Narendra Modi visiting Thailand and Sri Lanka. Though his visit to Bangkok was to attend the sixth summit of BIMSTEC, it also led to a further deepening of India-Thailand ties as well. His visits underline how interconnected the two geographies of South and Southeast Asia are and how an artificial division between the two has not only shaped Indian approach to the region but has also not allowed the two to leverage each other’s strengths. It is in this context that this visit and India’s growing investment in BIMSTEC assumes significance. Although established in 1997, BIMSTEC gained momentum only under the Modi government as New Delhi decided to leverage the Bay of Bengal in shaping the regional cooperation framework. The centrality of the Bay of Bengal in the wider Indo-Pacific makes it imperative for regional states to work together for finding solutions to regional challenges. And, as India’s strategic imagination shifted to the east, it led to the convergence of India’s ‘Neighbourhood First’ and ‘Act East’ policies with its Vision for the Indo-Pacific.
Modi Connects South and Southeast Asia (Harsh V. Pant, Observer Research Foundation)
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