India hosts inaugural BIMSTEC Home Ministers' Meeting in New Delhi on October 13, 2026, chaired by Amit Shah, which adopts the Delhi Declaration and five security cooperation agreements

Key facts

• India hosted the first BIMSTEC Home Ministers' Meeting in New Delhi on October 13, 2026, chaired by Union Home Minister Amit Shah, with delegations from all seven member states—Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Myanmar, Nepal, Sri Lanka and Thailand—participating.
• Amit Shah highlighted five key areas of cooperation: drug control, counter-terrorism and legal cooperation, repatriation of fugitive criminals, cyber-security and cybercrime investigation, and institutional cooperation and capacity building.
• Home Ministers approved the BIMSTEC Convention against Trafficking in Persons, the BIMSTEC Plan of Action on Drug Control, an MoU on Capacity Building to Combat Money Laundering and Terror Financing, the BIMSTEC Plan of Action on Illicit Financial Flows and Their Prevention, and a Plan of Action for Enhancing Preparedness and Coordination to Address Natural Disasters in the Bay of Bengal Region.
• The meeting adopted the Delhi Declaration, which emphasised combating cross-border terrorism, terror financing, radicalisation, drug trafficking, human trafficking, cybercrime and organised crime, and prioritised information sharing, mutual legal assistance, extradition and capacity building.
• A BIMSTEC Disaster Management Centre, proposed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi at the 6th BIMSTEC Summit in Bangkok on April 4, 2025, is planned to be established in Jamnagar, Gujarat.
• The decision to convene BIMSTEC Home Ministers' meetings was taken at the Fourth BIMSTEC Summit in 2018, and India committed to hosting the first such meeting during the Sixth BIMSTEC Summit.
• Shah described drug trafficking as 'death trafficking' and called for a 'Whole of Region' approach, noting that drug proceeds can fund organised crime and terror financing, with precursor chemical diversion and dark web transactions complicating the challenge.
• The Union Home Minister led the Indian delegation at the ministers' meeting, while the Union Home Secretary led the meeting of senior officials held before it.
• BIMSTEC (Bay of Bengal Initiative for Multi-Sectoral Technical and Economic Cooperation) links South and Southeast Asia and promotes cooperation among its seven member states.