MoU on Grid Interconnection not signed again

Kathmandu, Aug. 11: The 15^th Ministerial Meeting of the Bay of Bengal Initiative for Multi-Sectoral Technical and Economic Cooperation (BIMSTEC) ended here Friday without signing the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) on the BIMSTEC Grid Interconnection.

The meeting was expected to sign the MoU, but it ended by only expressing commitment to sign the agreement at the earliest possible.

Seven members of the Initiative – Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Myanmar, Nepal, Sri Lanka and Thailand – had expressed their readiness to sign the MoU at the 17^th session of the BIMSTEC SOM held in Kathmandu in February this year.

The agreement was expected to be signed at the third BIMSTEC Energy Ministers’ Meeting in March this year, but the meeting did not take place.

Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Foreign Affairs Krishna Bahadur Mahara said in a post-meeting press meet that Nepal has proposed to hold the Energy Ministers’ Meeting in early 2018, and there would be efforts to sign the MoU.

The MoU facilitates the BIMSTEC countries in exchanging power.

This deal is in line with the SAARC Framework Agreement for Energy Cooperation, which aims to set up a South Asian Regional Grid for cross-border power trade.

The meeting also failed to fix the date of the fourth BIMSTEC Summit, but Mahara said that Nepal had proposed to hold it at a convenient time for all the member states.

Similarly, the signing of the BIMSTEC Free Trade Area Agreement has also been postponed although the member countries, in the 17^th Senior Officials’ Meeting held in Kathmandu in February this year, had agreed to conclude the FTAA as soon as possible.

“The Ministerial Meeting decided to sign the BIMSTEC FTAA also at the earliest possible date. It has decided to finalise the Technology Transfer Agreement among the member countries, Motor Vehicle Agreement and Trade Facilitation Agreement at the earliest,” said Mahara.

The meeting has agreed to establish BIMSTEC Energy Centre, Environment Centre, and Culture Centre in the near future, as well as formulate an Eminent Person’s Group (EPG) to recommend the future action plan of the sub-regional body.

It decided to sign and ratify the regional conventions prepared to control terrorism and crime, and effectively implement Poverty Alleviation Action Plan endorsed by the BIMSTEC Minister’s Meeting held in Kathmandu in 2012.

The meeting appointed Sahidul Islam of Bangladesh as the General Secretary of the BIMSTEC. He has replaced Sumith Nakandala of Sri Lanka.

Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba had inaugurated the meeting on Thursday.

DPM Mahara chaired the ministerial meeting, and Foreign Secretary Shankar Das Bairagi chaired the 18^th session of the BIMSTEC Senior Officials’ Meeting (SOM).

Nepal is the current chair of BIMSTEC - established on June 6, 1997.