·PIB·15 marks·250–350 words

Discuss the significance of BIMSTEC as a bridge between South Asia and South-East Asia. How can cooperation on traditional medicine strengthen this grouping?

In this answer
  1. Significance as a bridge
  2. How traditional medicine cooperation strengthens it

BIMSTEC's seven members — India, Bangladesh, Bhutan, Nepal, Sri Lanka, Myanmar and Thailand — make it the only regional grouping straddling South Asia and South-East Asia [2]. The Third Conference on Traditional Medicine at Goa (September 2026) shows how low-politics sectoral cooperation can give this bridge real substance [1].

Significance as a bridge

  • Strategic convergence: BIMSTEC is the single platform where Neighbourhood First and Act East meet, linking the eastern seaboard and the Northeast to ASEAN markets.
  • Institutional workability: excluding Pakistan, it avoids the veto-driven paralysis that stalled SAARC; the BIMSTEC Charter (2022) gave it legal personality.
  • Maritime and functional agenda: Bay of Bengal connectivity, energy, disaster management and security cooperation address shared, non-ideological needs.
  • Limitation: delivery lags ambition — the FTA Framework Agreement of 2004 remains unfinished, prompting India's Commerce Minister to seek faster negotiations and even an interim preferential trade arrangement [7].

How traditional medicine cooperation strengthens it

  • Shared civilisational asset: Ayurveda, Unani, Siddha and regional herbal systems draw on a common Bay of Bengal medicinal-plant base, building trust before harder bargains.
  • Institutional anchor: the Centre of Excellence for Traditional Medicine, announced at the 6th BIMSTEC Summit (2025), plus 175 students from the region under AYUSH scholarships in five years, create durable people-to-people ties [3].
  • Collective IPR defence: the "Goa Conclusions" identified policy cooperation, standards and trade, documentation and implementation [1]. India's TKDL prior-art model, already shared with Brazil's patent office [4], could arm BIMSTEC patent offices against biopiracy, while joint ratification of the WIPO Treaty on Genetic Resources (2024) — needing 15 ratifications — would make disclosure-of-origin enforceable [5].
  • Standards as a trade opening: WHO's Global Traditional Medicine Strategy 2025–34 prioritises evidence and regulation [6]; mutual recognition of herbal product standards is a quicker win than a full FTA.

BIMSTEC's promise lies in converting geography into habits of cooperation. Traditional medicine offers a consensual, health-and-livelihood entry point that simultaneously advances SDG-3 and protects community knowledge. If the Centre of Excellence receives staff, budget and a standards mandate, Goa will mark the point where BIMSTEC's bridge began carrying traffic, not just declarations.

Sources

  1. 1BIMSTEC Forum provides an ideal platform for fostering of Traditional Medicine, PIBThird BIMSTEC Conference at Goa; "Goa Conclusions" and its four cooperation areas
  2. 2Brief on BIMSTEC, Ministry of External Affairsseven member states bridging South Asia and South-East Asia
  3. 3PM Modi announces Centre of Excellence for Traditional Medicine during the BIMSTEC Summit in Thailand, PIBCentre of Excellence; 175 BIMSTEC students under AYUSH Scholarship Scheme
  4. 4India and Brazil Sign TKDL Access Agreement, PIBTKDL as a prior-art database shared with foreign patent offices to prevent biopiracy
  5. 5Summary of the WIPO Treaty on Intellectual Property, Genetic Resources and Associated Traditional Knowledge (2024), WIPOdisclosure-of-origin duty; entry into force after 15 ratifications
  6. 6WHA78: Traditional medicine takes centre stage, WHOGlobal Traditional Medicine Strategy 2025–2034 prioritising evidence and regulation
  7. 7Shri Piyush Goyal calls for faster negotiations of BIMSTEC Free Trade Agreement, PIBdelay in the BIMSTEC FTA; proposal for an interim preferential trade agreement

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