India, Nepal and Sri Lanka) together with two south east Asian countries (Burma and Thailand). It had remined dormant for long, however in recent times India has taken initiatve to revive cooperation at this forum. In this context India had invited the BIMSTEC leaders to join the BRICS leaders at the Goa summit in 2016.

♤ However, these options do not resolve India’s Pakistan problem in promoting economic cooperation with Afghanistan. With no physical access to Afghanistan, India needs to find creative ways to deepen bilateral economic engagement with Kabul bilaterally and through trilateral cooperation with other partners like Tehran.

♤ India can’t compel Pakistan to join the project of South Asian integration. SAARC for the time being seems to be becoming redundant. However, success in other regional integration initiative might help Pakistan see the benefit and then SAARC can revived. Thus instead of focusing on Pakistan India must devote itself to bilateral, sub-regional and trans-regional cooperation with our neighbors, all of whom except Pakistan want India to do more.