SAARC and BIMSTEC
Regional Frameworks for South Asia
The South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) was established in 1985 with the Dhaka Declaration; India, Nepal, and six other nations are members. The Bay of Bengal Initiative for Multi-Sectoral Technical and Economic Cooperation (BIMSTEC) was established in 1997; both India and Nepal are members.
- SAARC has been largely non-functional since 2016 following India's diplomatic boycott after the Uri attack, highlighting the limitations of multilateral frameworks in South Asia.
- BIMSTEC (7 members: Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Myanmar, Nepal, Sri Lanka, Thailand) has emerged as a more active alternative platform for regional cooperation.
- The BBIN (Bangladesh-Bhutan-India-Nepal) sub-regional framework focuses specifically on connectivity — motor vehicle agreement, power grid, and waterway cooperation.
- India-Nepal bilateral engagement has increasingly shifted from SAARC to BIMSTEC and BBIN corridors as the primary multilateral architecture.
● Tracked since February 21, 2026 · last seen June 06, 2026 · updates as the daily brief publishes
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