It is not without good reasons that India has made concerted efforts to make BIMSTEC (Bay of Bengal Initiative for Multi-sectoral Technical and Economic Cooperation) a vibrant forum for regional cooperation.
This is largely because no initiatives under SAARC has been moving forward.
"India favours strong regional cooperation and has been working towards it for several decades," MEA spokesman Randhir Jaiswal told reporters here at media briefing. "Everyone in South Asia is aware of which country and what activities are responsible for stymieing SAARC," he remarked in what was certainly a veiled attack on Pakistan.
He further added: "After all, cooperation does require goodwill".
The SAARC is a regional bloc comprising India, Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, the Maldives, Sri Lanka, Nepal and Pakistan.
India actually sought to hold Pakistan responsible for "stymieing" cooperation under the framework of the SAARC grouping and said New Delhi favours strong regional cooperation.
The remarks by the External Affairs Ministry spokesperson actually came in response to a question on Maldivian President Mohamed Muizzu pitching for reviving the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC).
The 2016 SAARC Summit was to be held in Islamabad but was cancelled.
The grouping has not been very effective since 2016 as its biennial summits have not taken place since the last one in Kathmandu in 2014. But after the Pak-terrorists attack on an Indian Army camp in Uri in Jammu and Kashmir on September 18, 2016, India had decided to stay away the SAARC summit due to "prevailing circumstances".
The summit was called off after Bangladesh, Bhutan and Afghanistan also declined to participate in the Islamabad meet.
In an address on Sunday, Muizzu called for resolving differences between the SAARC member nations through dialogue.
PM Narendra Modi with Maldives President Mohamed Muizzu - file snap
In his Independence Address on Sunday, Muizzu urged the differences between the members of SAARC should be solved through “dialogue”.
“The President also addressed the current impasse within the SAARC. Reiterating that differences should be resolved through dialogue. He called on SAARC member-states to return to the negotiating table in the interest of regional peace and cooperation.
He added that the Maldives stands ready to serve as a mediator,” the President’s office said in a statement.
“Referring to the foreign policies pursued by some previous administrations, which distanced the Maldives from the Arab and Islamic world, the President said such an approach did not reflect the aspirations of the Maldivian people," it said.
Muizzu’s push for the revival of SAARC follows Dhaka’s own efforts in the last few months to push India towards reviving the regional organisation that has been dormant for the last decade due to the breakdown in ties between New Delhi and Islamabad.
ends
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