Statement by Hon. Vasantha Senanayake, State Minister of Foreign Affairs of Government of Sri Lanka at the Fifteenth Session of the Bay of Bengal Initiative for Multi-sectoral Technical and Economic Cooperation (BIMSTEC) Ministerial Meeting 11 August 2017, Kathmandu, Nepal

Hon. Ministers Excellencies Distinguished Delegates 1. It is my pleasure and honour to be here in this beautiful city of Kathmandu to attend the fifteenth Ministerial meeting of BIMSTEC.

2. At the outset, I wish to extend my gratitude to the government of Nepal for excellent arrangements made for this meeting and for the warm hospitality extended to me and my delegation. Let me also extend my warm gratitude to BIMSTEC Secretariat and the Secretary General for the support extended to the government of Nepal – the Chair of BIMSTEC to host this meeting.

3. Today, regional integration is an important and integral part of international cooperation and it is difficult to comprehend how a region or a country could grow without integration. The world is becoming increasingly interdependent and boundaries are disappearing one by one, though not as rapidly as some of us may have wanted. Global power centers are shifting and new economic alliances – both global and regional – are being formed. The global economic power center is gradually shifting from the West to the East. Yet, we have been somewhat slow and complacent to keep pace with the trend of regionalism.

Excellencies, Distinguished delegates,

4. This year BIMSTEC is celebrating its Twentieth Anniversary and I believe this to be an excellent vantage point for BIMSTEC to reflect on its achievements and failures. It is not too late, neither is it too early, when BIMSTEC turns twenty and take note that it is just stepping into adulthood, and that there are numerous tasks ahead and challenges to be faced in the World of today.

5. BIMSTEC was established at a time when there was less intra-regional and less inter-regional free trade in our part of the world. Since then many arrangements – both bilateral and regional – have come into existence to deal with free trade and tariff reductions. However, none of them have been able to connect South Asia and South East Asia, wholly and comprehensively, as BIMSTEC aspires to do. I am confident that BIMSTEC has the potential to become a viable regional organization in this part of the world, particularly connecting South Asia and South East Asia.

6. It is important that we expedite the process of finalizing the BIMSTEC Free Trade Area negotiations. The fact that the last meeting of the Trade Negotiating Committee was held nearly two years ago in September 2015 is a matter of concern. We must recall that our leaders, at the BIMSTEC Leaders’ Retreat in October 2016 in Goa renewed their commitment to finalize the FTA and directed the Trade Negotiating Committee and Working Groups to expedite the finalization of its constituent agreements.

7. The relevance of BIMSTEC may truly be envisioned only after the proposed FTA comes to fruition. As draft texts of the constituent agreements already exist. That is the Agreement on Cooperation and Mutual Assistance in Custom Matters for BIMSTEC Free Trade Area, the BIMSTEC Rules of Origin and Operational and Certification Procedures, and the draft text of the Agreement on Trade Facilitation for the BIMSTEC Region which have already been circulated and it is only a matter of our commitment to amend them as appropriate for implementation. Excellencies, 8. As the Foreign Ministers of BIMSTEC member countries, it is upon us today, to lead the way. We cannot expect growth only through free trade, based on reduced tariffs. It also needs facilitation of trade, transport and connectivity as well as business friendly customs operations; it is also about infrastructure development and business friendly policies; it is also about the wise selection of priority sectors for cooperation – it is always prudent to select the sectors that have the highest potential to further strengthen regional cooperation.

9. It is imperative that BIMSTEC reaches out to regional and international organizations and increases its international visibility and recognition. We need to explore the potential sectors for specific cooperation with these organizations. Further, it will also be advantageous for us to finalize the proposed BIMSTEC flag and have it flying soon. 10. We need to focus on a growth that takes cognizance of United Nation’s 2030 SDG’s. We need to look for convergence of our action with the SDG’s. The growth of economies merely will not be sustainable if you do not count their cost to the environment, climate, cultures etc. We need to make the UN SDG’s our guiding principles in our march towards growth.

11. Sri Lanka is taking the lead in the area of Technology Cooperation and I am happy to inform that we are making progress to achieve the objectives. Sri Lanka will host the fourth Expert Group meeting in November 2017. I hope that the BIMSTEC Technology Transfer Facility will become a reality soon. As our leaders recognized in Goa, access and availability of technology is essential for development, including in the SME sector and this is essential in achieving sustainable development of our countries and the region.

12. I am also pleased that Sri Lanka is going to host the Third Ministerial Meeting on Poverty Alleviation in Colombo in December this year. I take this opportunity to renew our invitation to all the members to send high level delegations to make it an outcome oriented meeting. Distinguished delegates, 13. The current Chair Nepal deserves our appreciation for their able leadership and efforts in taking BIMSTEC closer to our common objectives and collective vision. We look forward to the Fourth BIMSTEC Summit to be held in Nepal at the convenience of the Chair.

14. The government of Sri Lanka is keen to see the expansion and realization of the BIMSTEC objectives. It goes hand in hand with our national interest to expand

our economic outreach from immediate neighborhood to the wider Asia and beyond.

15. We hope that our deliberations will inject new dynamism to BIMSTEC to assume an elevated profile to deliver the objectives and goals as envisaged 20 years ago.

I thank you.