BIMSTEC (Bay of Bengal Initiative for Multi-Sectoral Technical and Economic Cooperation) represents one of the most diverse regions of the world. Providing a unique link between South Asia and Southeast Asia, it brings together 1.5 billion people and a combined GDP of $2.7 trillion. This volume focuses on issues related to connectivity, commerce, and security challenges facing BIMSTEC. It studies BIMSTEC’s relevance as an inter-governmental organization in the changing international milieu. The volume discusses the necessity of connectivity to enhance Bay solidarity and analyses the political, strategic and security concerns that restrain commercial connectivity. It also looks at the Bay of Bengal region as a zone of competition―and possible collaboration―between the littoral countries and major powers involved in the region.
Comprehensive and topical, this volume will be an essential read for scholars and researchers of international relations, South Asian studies, foreign policy, diplomacy, Southeast Asian studies, defence and strategic affairs, maritime studies, international trade, regional cooperation, and political studies.
Adluri Subramanyam Raju is Professor and former Head, UNESCO Madanjeet Singh Institute of South Asia Regional Cooperation (UMISARC) and Centre for South Asian Studies, and Coordinator of the UGC Centre for Maritime Studies, Pondicherry University, India. He was recipient of the Mahbub Ul Haq Award (Regional Centre for Strategic Studies (RCSS), Colombo, 2003), Scholar of Peace Award (WISCOMP, New Delhi, 2002) and Kodikara Award (RCSS, Colombo, 1998). He was Salzburg Seminar Fellow (2006). He received the National Best Teacher Award (C.V.S. Krishnamurthy Theja Charities, Tirupati, 2017) and Best Teacher Award twice (Pondicherry University, 2013 and 2018). He was a Visiting Fellow at the Bandaranaike Centre for International Studies, Colombo, May 2012. He is a member for Third Task Force on Blue Economy, FICCI, New Delhi, India. He has published 22 books and 48 papers.
Anasua Basu Ray Chaudhury is Senior Fellow with the Neighbourhood Initiative of Observer Research Foundation, Kolkata, India. She is the coordinator of the research project, ‘Proximity to Connectivity’. She specialises in South Asia, refugees, forced migration, and women in conflict zones. She is the recipient of the Public Service Broadcasting Trust Senior Media Fellowship (2007), and the Kodikara Award from the Regional Centre for Strategic Studies (RCSS), Colombo in 1998-99. She was also ICSSR Post-Doctoral Fellow (2004-06) at the Centre for the Studies of Developing Societies (CSDS), New Delhi, and a Visiting Fellow at The Maison des Sciences de I’Homme, Paris, France. Her recent publications include India-Myanmar Borderlands: Ethnicity, Security and Connectivity (Co-edited: 2020),Connecting Nations: India and Southeast Asia (co-edited, 2019), State of Being Stateless (co-edited, 2015),Women in Indian Borderlands (co-edited, 2011)
