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Dec
2011

South Asia Subregional Economic Cooperation (SASEC), South Asia Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC), and Bay of Bengal Initiative for Multi-Sectoral Technical and Economic Cooperation (BIMSTEC)

BIMSTEC logo SAARC logo

ADB supports RCI in South Asia in four ways: (i) subregionally through the South Asia Subregional Economic Cooperation (SASEC) program, (ii) regionally through the South Asia Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC), (iii) interregionally through the Bay of Bengal Initiative for Multi-Sectoral Technical and Economic Cooperation (BIMSTEC), and (iv) through collaboration with networks of regional policy research institutes.


Recent Developments

  • SASEC working groups on transport, trade facilitation, and energy convened in Bangkok, Thailand, in October 2011. They endorsed investment projects worth $2 billion, demonstrating strong SASEC commitment to strengthen transport connectivity, trade facilitation, and energy cooperation.
  • Regional Cooperation and Integration in Southe Asia - intraregional trade share.pngADB has assisted the SAARC Secretariat in developing detailed project proposals. These include codification of the variation in levels of capital market development, organization of regional conferences for knowledge sharing on RCI, and strengthening SAARC regional institutions. Held in Male in October 2011 with the Government of Maldives and the SAARC Secretariat. The ADB-financed SAARC Energy Trade Study (SRETS) was also adopted by SAARC Energy Ministers. STRETS is a significant step in ensuring energy security in the region.
  • Under the BIMSTEC framework, ADB has prepared a technical assistance project. At the request of the BIMSTEC Working Group, the TA supports BIMSTEC’s regional institutions, including its Secretariat, which was recently established in Dhaka, and expert groups in rail, road, aviation, maritime, and logistics cooperation.
The views expressed in this blog post are the views of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views or policies of ARIC, the Asian Development Bank (ADB), its Board of Directors, or the governments they represent. ARIC does not guarantee the accuracy of the information and data included in this blog post and accepts no responsibility for any consequences of their use. Terminology used may not necessarily be consistent with official ADB terms.

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