Recently, Sri Lankan President Rani Wickremesinghe proposed to make India, Bangladesh, Nepal, Bhutan borderless. He is suggesting to make BIMSTEC countries borderless for promoting tourism. BIMSTEC (The Bay of Bengal Initiative for Multi-Sectoral Technical and Economic Cooperation) is a cooperation of seven countries surrounding The Bay of Bengal which includes India, Bangladesh, Bhutan, Myanmar, Nepal, Sri Lanka and Thailand. According to President Ranil there should be an agreement between the countries that allows a citizen from the member countries to travel any of the BIMSTEC countries without any Visa or any other restrictions.
From India’s perspective, out of the seven countries in BIMSTEC only two countries have provided the facility for Visa-free entry, other 4 countries do not provide this facility and its similar for other countries as well. Therefore, President Ranil is suggesting to have an open border area.
Open Border Area
Open Border Area is an old concept and there are many places where this concept is enforced, for example; European Union. This is the first successful experiment in human history. Here, 27 European countries together formed an area known as Schengen Area, which is the world’s largest Visa Free Zone, in 1995. Under this agreement, a person from any of the member State can travel as well as live in any other member states without any visa or other issues. This has led to economic boost to the member countries as well as convenient travelling for the citizens.
These countries together provide Schengen Visas to other countries, under which citizens for other countries can travel to the Schengen countries all together. This has also helped in boosting the tourism in all the members countries otherwise it would have been very difficult for the people to travel each of the countries individually.
South Asian Problem
Although, this concept is successful in European countries, it doesn’t mean that it would be successful in South Asia. In the South Asian countries there is a huge problem of overpopulation. It is always feared that after opening the borders a single region will be overcrowded causing various issues.
Even though, this is a problem there is also another example of successful implementation of the concept, the ASEAN (Association of Southeast Asian Nations) countries Visa Policy. The ASEAN countries provide Visas to citizens of the member countries for 15-30 days, which has also improved the tourism in the member countries.
Potential in South Asia
There is a huge potential in implementation of ASEAN model in South Asia. For example; if a person from Europe want to travel to South Asia, he can easily explore the seven countries with the Joint-Visa package. All the countries would benefit from this and increase their respective tourism.
If President Ranil Wickremesinghe’s proposal is accepted and discussed within BIMSTEC countries, there would be fruitful results.
FAQ
What is Schengen Area?
This is the first successful experiment in human history. Here, 27 European countries together formed an area known as Schengen Area, which is the world’s largest Visa Free Zone, in 1995. Under this agreement, a person from any of the member State can travel as well as live in any other member states without any visa or other issues. This has led to economic boost to the member countries as well as convenient travelling for the citizens.
These countries together provide Schengen Visas to other countries, under which citizens for other countries can travel to the Schengen countries all together. This has also helped in boosting the tourism in all the members countries otherwise it would have been very difficult for the people to travel each of the countries individually
What is BIMSTEC?
BIMSTEC (The Bay of Bengal Initiative for Multi-Sectoral Technical and Economic Cooperation) is a cooperation of seven countries surrounding The Bay of Bengal which includes India, Bangladesh, Bhutan, Myanmar, Nepal, Sri Lanka and Thailand. Recently, in 2023, Sri Lankan President Wickremesinghe suggested to make the BIMSTEC countries borderless.
How did Wickremesinghe become Sri Lanka’s new president?
Ranil Wickremesinghe secured sufficient votes among the lawmakers to become the President of Sri-Lanka even though he only had a single seat as the leader of United National Party. His rise to the new position was met with protest as the previous president Gotabaya Rajapaksa fled Sri Lanka last week. Now Wickremesinghe faces the role of leading the country out of economic crisis and restoring peace and tranquillity after months of chaos.