Aspiring For Economic Integration: Nepal’s Receptiveness Towards Multilateral Connectivity
摘要
Nepal’s engagement with multilateral organizations began during the Cold War. This opening to multilateral institutions helped the country secure international legitimacy and advocate for the transit rights, a goal the Cold War Nepal actively pursued. Despite the presence of several multilateral organizations during the Cold War, Nepal’s connectivity sector benefited minimally from their involvement. It was in the post-Cold War period that regional issues such as development, economic growth and regional integration gained greater prominence. This shift led to the exponential rise of regional organizations after the 1990s, which began investing, among other sectors, in critical infrastructure such as transportation and communication, with the aim of strengthening economic complementarities among member states. Similarly, the rise of regional powers such as China and India contributed not only to a more multipolar global order but also to the emergence of new multilateral institutions, such as the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB), and numerous regional and subregional initiatives, including Bay of Bengal Initiative for Multi-Sectoral Technical and Economic Cooperation (BIMSTEC), South Asia Subregional Economic Cooperation (SASEC), Bangladesh Bhutan India Nepal (BBIN) and others with the focus on investing in both continental and maritime connectivity infrastructure. Like many smaller landlocked countries, Nepal naturally turned to such international and regional institutions with the aim of negotiating structural inequalities and accessing investment for infrastructure projects. This chapter assesses the extent to which connectivity projects implemented through multilateral and regional support have been successful. In doing this, the chapter analyses various regional, inter-regional, subregional and multilateral connectivity initiatives to evaluate Nepal’s success in asserting agency, selecting and executing connectivity projects, and meeting its national objectives of regional economic integration.