Bangladesh and Nepal have called for “revitalizing” South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC), said a statement on Wednesday evening after the Foreign Office Consultations (FOC) between the two countries in Kathmandu on Wednesday.
The third round of FOC were co-led by Bangladesh's Foreign Secretary Masud Bin Momen and his Nepalese counterpart Sewa Lamsal.
The two South Asian nations also underlined the need to strengthen the Bay of Bengal Initiative for Multi-Sectoral Technical and Economic Cooperation (BIMSTEC), a regional grouping comprising India, Bangladesh, Nepal, Bhutan, Myanmar, Sri Lanka and Thailand to promote cooperation between South and Southeast Asian nations.
SAARC is a Kathmandu-headquartered grouping comprising India, Pakistan, Afghanistan, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, Bhutan, Maldives and Nepal. The last SAARC Summit was held in Kathmandu in 2014.
A SAARC Summit scheduled to take place in Islamabad in 2016 was called off in the wake of a terrorist attack at an Indian military base in Uri, Jammu and Kashmir, following which Indian forces launched cross-border "surgical strikes" against terrorist camps of banned group Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM).
"If you ask me if I see a future for SAARC, in some ways, actually you are asking me if I see a future for that country. Because if that country does not really let go of those kinds of options in its armoury or its toolkit, then it is not just SAARC which is in danger. I mean, very frankly, you are looking at the state of that country as well," Jaishankar told the Munich Security Conference last month.
Nepal, Bangladesh Call for Activating Regional Motor Vehicle Agreement
The two nations also called for the operationalisation of the Bangladesh Bhutan India Nepal Motor Vehicle Agreement (BBIN MVA), which was signed in 2015. Bhutan is the only of the four nations yet to ratify the pact.
"Both Foreign Secretaries emphasized the operationalisation of the BBIN MVA framework to contribute to the individual country’s economy not only by expanding trade and connectivity, but also by creating more opportunity to promote people-to-people contacts," the statement said.
Momen for his part also underscored the need for an "expeditious conclusion" of the tripartite power pact between Bangladesh, India and Nepal, which would allow Dhaka to import hydel power from Nepal from grid passing through India.