Asean
ASSOCIATION OF SOUTHEAST ASIAN NATIONS (ASEAN) (1967)
• ASEAN (Association of Southeast Asian Nations) is a regional organization made up of 10 Southeast Asian countries, dedicated to fostering intergovernmental cooperation and facilitating economic integration among its members.
• Its main objectives are to accelerate economic growth, promote social progress, enhance socio-cultural development, and protect regional stability, while also encouraging Southeast Asian studies.
• The member nations are: Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, Brunei, Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar, and Vietnam.
ASEAN shares land borders with India, China, Bangladesh, East Timor, and Papua New Guinea, and maritime borders with India, China, Palau, and Australia.
ASEAN Plus Three was established to strengthen relations with China, Japan, and South Korea.
The grouping expanded to ASEAN Plus Six, which includes Australia, New Zealand, and India.
The larger East Asia Summit (EAS) includes ASEAN Plus Three countries, along with India, Australia, New Zealand, the United States, and Russia.
In 2006, ASEAN was granted observer status at the United Nations General Assembly.
In turn, ASEAN conferred "dialogue partner" status to the UN.
Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation
ASIA PACIFIC ECONOMIC COOPERATION (APEC) (1989)
APEC (Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation) is a forum comprising 21 member economies from the Pacific Rim, aimed at promoting free trade across the Asia-Pacific region. Its headquarters are located in Singapore.
APEC was established in response to the increasing interdependence among Asia-Pacific economies, the rise of regional trade blocs, and to counterbalance Japan's growing economic power, while also expanding markets for agricultural products and raw materials beyond Europe.
Membership criteria are based on economies rather than states, which is why Taiwan is included.
In addition to its member economies, APEC has three official observers: ASEAN, the Pacific Islands Forum, and the Pacific Economic Cooperation Council.
India is not part of the APEC grouping.
Bimstec
BAY OF BENGAL INITIATIVE FOR MULTI-SECTORAL TECHNICAL AND ECONOMIC COOPERATION (BIMSTEC) (1997)
• BIMSTEC is an international organisation involving a group of countries in South Asia and South East Asia.
• Bangladesh, India, Myanmar, Sri Lanka, Thailand, Bhutan and Nepal are its members.
• Its headquarters is in Dhaka, Bangladesh.
• The main objective of BIMSTEC is technological and economic co-operation among south Asian and south east Asian countries along the coast of the Bay of Bengal.
• Commerce, investment, technology, tourism, humanresource development, agriculture, fisheries, transport and communication, textiles, leather etc.. have been included in it.
BIMSTEC uses the alphabetical order for the Chairmanship; Nepal formally took over the new Chairmanship as on 2014.
The ADB has become BIMSTEC’s development partner to undertake, promote and improve transport infrastructure and logistic among the BIMSTEC countries.
Significance of BIMSTEC for India:
The BIMSTEC region hosts 22% of the world population or 1.68 billion people; and the member states have a combined GDP of US$3.697 trillion/per year.
For India, BIMSTEC aligns with its ‘Act East’ policy for greater regional cooperation in southeast Asia. It could also be seen as aligning with India’s larger goal to gain trade and security prominence in the Indian Ocean region and to cater to the concept of the ‘Indo-Pacific’ region, a major focus of Quad countries.
• India can also connect with Southeast Asian countries. India along with ASEAN (Association of South East Asian Nations) can work jointly to work on infrastructure development and connectivity. The Northeast states are considered a ‘Gateway’ due to their geographic locations, as they share a border with four BIMSTEC nations namely, Bangladesh, Bhutan, Nepal and Myanmar. Through, better transportation and border infrastructure Northeast present a significant opportunity for India to strengthen its position in the region.
• The idea of BIMSTEC also gained prominence after the 2016 Uri attack when India was able to get SAARC (South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation) nations on its side to boycott the organisation’s summit, which was to be held in Islamabad, Pakistan. The progress of SAARC has stalled over the years due to Indo-Pak relations and what experts call Pakistan’s obstructionist approach to the organisation. BIMSTEC emerged as an alternative platform for cooperation.
• Except for India and Bhutan, all BIMSTEC nations are part of China-led BRI (Belt and Road initiative). China has built infrastructure in South and Southeast Asian countries. India which is also the largest economy in BIMSTEC can work as a leader and develop a roadmap on these critical issues along with the members. Not only, connectivity but also a common place for peace and development.
• The Bay of Bengal region can also be made a secure piracy-free zone, with active participation from the members of the forum. This can boost India’s blue economy goals.
Challenges pertaining to BIMSTEC:
• The first and major challenge, according to foreign policy researchers is a lack of efficiency and the “sluggish” pace of BIMSTEC’s progress.
• BIMSTEC secretariat also suffers from inadequate financial and manpower assistance for its operational activities.
• Another criticism is India’s selective interest in BIMSTEC each time SAARC is hamstrung due to Pakistan.
• Besides, BIMSTEC members have a lot of ground to cover in terms of transborder trade and connectivity. For e.g.: according to a 2020 research paper, “the 1,600 km long India-Myanmar border remains Asia’s least open”. India’s percentage of annual trade with BIMSTEC countries as a percentage of its total foreign trade was in the double digits in the 1950s, but was just 4% as of 2020.
As for maritime trade and tourism, the Bay of Bengal has 15,792 square kilometres, coral reefs of around 8,471 sq. km, and is an important source of natural resources for a coastal population. The fishermen’s population in the Bay alone is estimated to be around 3.7 million, with an annual fish catch of around six million tonnes. Despite this, BIMSTEC members are yet to build a shared and lucrative coastal shipment ecosystem and also grapple with the frequent detention of fishermen who cross territorial borders.
In recent years, the progress of BIMSTEC has also been underscored by Bangladesh-Myanmar relations over the Rohingya refugee crisis, the India-Nepal border issue, and most recently, the political situation in Myanmar after the military junta took over.
Way forward
There is a need for enhancing connections and connectivity by encouraging people-to-people contacts and simultaneously accelerating work on the already- started multilateral connectivity projects.
The regional integration among BIMSTEC countries can be achieved by the usage of common cultural traits like Buddhism and the usage of soft power diplomacy.
Concluding on the Free Trade Agreement will lead to better trade interactions between the countries and will take the groupings interactions to the next level.
BIMSTEC vs SAARC
How BIMSTEC is better than SAARC:
BIMSTEC is more inclusive in nature; Article 6 of the recently signed BIMSTEC Charter refers to the Admission of new members to the group, which can be used for including members like Maldives. SAARC has no such provisions.
BIMSTEC is more homogenous in approach, the members are focused on the betterment in economic and technical spheres and there are no obstructionist players like Pakistan in the grouping, as in SAARC.
BIMSTEC is in the right direction to aid our Act East goals, with initiatives like transport connectivity and trade agreements the forum acts as a gateway for India to reach the ASEAN countries.
BIMSTEC has two regional powers, India and Thailand act as the two influential powers in the group and the smaller member countries have reduced the fear of dominance from one particular country.
BIMSTEC member’s relationship is cordial, members maintain reasonably friendly relations and people-to-people ties are also improving. Whereas SAARC Member countries suffer from mistrust and suspicion over one another, which is not a favourable condition for betterment.
Brics
BRICS (2009)
BRICS is an association of five major emerging national economies: Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa.
The BRICS members are all leading developing or newly industrialized countries, but they are distinguished by their large, sometimes fast-growing economies and significant influence on regional affairs.
All five are G-20 members.
Since 2009, the BRICS nations have met annually at formal summits.
Bilateral relations among BRICS nations have mainly been conducted on the basis of non-interference, equality, and mutual benefit.
BRICS developed New Development Bank (NDB) which will have capital of US$50 billion with each country contributing US$10 billion, while the monetary fund will have US$100 billion at its disposal.
since 2012, the BRICS group of countries have been planning an optical fibre submarine communications cable system to carry telecommunications between the BRICS countries, known as the BRICS Cable
Council of Europe
COUNCIL OF EUROPE
The Council of Europe is an international organisation whose stated aim is to uphold human rights, democracy, and rule of law in Europe and promote European culture.
It has 46 member states and is distinct from the European Union (EU).
No country has ever joined the EU without first belonging to the Council of Europe.
Unlike the EU, the Council of Europe cannot make binding laws, but it does have the power to enforce select international agreements reached by European states on various topics.
The best-known body of the Council of Europe is the European Court of Human Rights, which enforces the European Convention on Human Rights.
The Council’s two statutory bodies are the Committee of Ministers, comprising the foreign ministers of each member state, and the Parliamentary Assembly, composed of members of the national parliaments of each member state.
The Commissioner for Human Rights is an independent institution within the Council of Europe, mandated to promote awareness of and respect for human rights in the member states.The headquarters of the Council of Europe are in Strasbourg, France.
The Committee of Ministers, the Parliamentary Assembly and the Congress also use German, Italian, Russian, and Turkish for some of their work.
Turkey is also a member.
The aim of the Council of Europe is to achieve a greater unity between its members by safeguarding and realising the ideals and principles which are their common heritage and facilitating their economic and social progress.
Council of Europe conventions/treaties are also open for signature to non-member states, thus facilitating equal co-operation with countries outside Europe.
Nearly all European states have acceded to the Council of Europe, with the exceptions of Belarus (human rights concerns), Kazakhstan (human rights concerns), and the Vatican City (a theocracy), as well as some of the territories with limited recognition.
G7
G7 (1975)
G7 is a group consisting of Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the United Kingdom, and the United States.The European Union is also represented within the G7.
These countries are the seven major advanced economies as reported by the International Monetary Fund.
Formally called G8 with Russia in it, but due to Crimean crisis Russia was ejected from the group.
The organization was founded to facilitate shared macroeconomic initiatives by its members in response to the collapse of the exchange rate 1971, during the time of the Nixon Shock, the 1970s energy crisis and the ensuing recession.
The group meets annually on summit site to discuss economic policies, while the G7 finance ministers have met at least semi-annually, up to 4 times a year at stand- alone meetings.
G7’s infrastructure investment plan to counter China’s Belt and Road Initiative:
The G7 countries have officially launched the for Global Infrastructure and Investment (PGII), a joint initiative to fund infrastructure projects in developing countries. The project is being seen as the bloc’s counter to China’s ‘Belt and Road Initiative.
What is G7’s PGII?
The infrastructure plan was first announced in June 2021. Back then, US President Joe Biden had called it the Build Back Better World (B3W) framework. Next year, the initiative was formally launched as Partnership for Global Infrastructure and Investment (PGII).
According to G7, the initiative is meant to be transparent, focused on building climate change-resilient infrastructure, and help in achieving objectives of gender equality and health infrastructure development.
At the centre of PGII is a different approach to financing infrastructure projects: using limited government funding to catalyse greater volumes of private capital (pension funds, private equity funds and insurance funds, among others).
The initiative will be funding projects in four major categories:
Clean energy
Health systems
Gender equality
Information and communications technology.
G20
G20 (1999)
G20 is an international forum for the governments and central bank governors from 20 major economies.
Members are Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, United Kingdom, United States, Russia, Australia, Canada, Saudi Arabia, India, South Africa, Turkey, Argentina, Brazil, Mexico, China and Indonesia.
It was founded with the aim of studying, reviewing, and promoting high level discussion of policy issues pertaining to the promotion of international financial stability.
It seeks to address issues that go beyond the responsibilities of any one organization.
The G20 heads of government or heads of state have annually met at summits, and the group also hostsseparate meetings of finance ministers and central bank governors.
G8 nation leaders said that G20 would replace the G8 as the main economic council of wealthy nations.
Though the G20’s primary focus is global economic governance, the themes of its summits vary from year to year.
The G20 operates without a permanent secretariat or staff.
In addition to these 20 members, the chief executive officers of several other international forums and institutions participate in meetings of the G20.
These include the managing director and Chairman of the International Monetary Fund, the President of the
World Bank, the International Monetary and Financial Committee and the Chairman of the Development Assistance Committee.
Singapore formed the Global Governance Group (3G), an informal grouping of 28 non-G20 countries (including several microstates and many Third World countries) with the aim of collectively channelling their views into the G20 process more effectively.
Ibsa
IBSA
The IBSA Dialogue Forum is an international tripartite grouping for promoting international cooperation among India, Brazil, and South Africa.
The forum helps to engage in discussions for cooperation in the field of agriculture, trade, culture, and defence among others.
It also aims at increasing the trade opportunities among the three countries, as well as facilitates the trilateral exchange of information, technologies and skills to complement each other strengths.
Subsequently, it promotes the international poverty alleviation and social development with main focus being on equitable development.
The IBSA Dialogue forum was formalized through the adoption of the “Brasilia Declaration”.
The IBSA Dialogue forum facilitates regular consultations at senior official level, government (summit) levels as well as amongst academics, intellectuals and other members of the civil society.IBSA asked for reforms in the United Nations, especially the Security Council.
Indian Ocean Rim Association
INDIAN OCEAN RIM ASSOCIATION (IORA) (1997)
The Indian Ocean Rim Association (IORA) is an international organization comprising coastal states bordering the Indian Ocean.
IORA serves as a regional platform, tripartite in nature that brings together government representatives, business leaders, and academic experts to foster cooperation and closer collaboration across these sectors.
The organization operates based on the principles of open regionalism, aiming to strengthen economic cooperation, particularly in trade facilitation, investment promotion, and social development within the region.
The IORA Coordinating Secretariat is located in Ebene, Mauritius.
The highest governing body is the Council of (Foreign) Ministers (COM).
IORA includes 21 member states and 7 dialogue partners, while the Indian Ocean Tourism Organisation and the Indian Ocean Research Group hold observer status.
In 2015, IORA was granted observer status at the UN General Assembly and the African Union.
Member states include: Australia, Bangladesh, Comoros, India, Indonesia, Iran, Kenya, Madagascar, Malaysia, Mauritius, Mozambique, Oman, Seychelles, Singapore, Somalia, South Africa, Sri Lanka, Tanzania, Thailand, UAE, and Yemen.
Mercosur
(MERCOSUR (THE SOUTHERN COMMON MARKET)
• Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay, Uruguay and Venezuela (which was suspended on December 2016) are its full members.
• It is sub regional bloc.
• Bolivia, Chile, Peru, Colombia, Ecuador and Suriname are its associate members.
Observer countries are New Zealand and Mexico.Its purpose is to promote free trade and the fluid movement of goods, people, and currency.
It is now a full customs union and a trading bloc.