Nearly three decades after its inception, home ministers of the seven-nation Bay of Bengal regional bloc, BIMSTEC, are set to hold their first-ever meeting in New Delhi next Tuesday.
However, Bangladesh Home Minister Salahuddin Ahmed will not be attending.
A Bangladesh delegation led by the Senior Secretary of the Home Ministry, Monzur Morshed Chowdhury, will participate in his place.
BIMSTEC Secretary General Indra Mani Pandey confirmed the matter to Prothom Alo over the phone from Delhi on Sunday.
He stated that, excluding Bangladesh, the home ministers and state ministers of the other six member countries will participate in the meeting.
A day prior to the ministerial meeting, on 12 October, senior officials from the home ministries of the member states will sit for discussions for the first time.
Regarding the Bangladesh home minister's decision not to travel to Delhi, several senior government officials, speaking on condition of anonymity, told Prothom Alo that the decision was made in the context of the ongoing strain in bilateral relations with India.
Earlier in September, Prime Minister Tarique Rahman did not attend the outreach session of the BRICS summit held in Delhi. India had invited him to the session as the current chair of BIMSTEC.
However, the Bangladesh government clarified that the invitation was extended to him in his capacity as the BIMSTEC chair, not as the Prime Minister of Bangladesh.
BIMSTEC began its journey through the Bangkok Declaration on 6 June 1997, with the aim of acting as a bridge for cooperation between South and South-East Asia.
Its seven member states are Bangladesh, India, Myanmar, Sri Lanka, Thailand, Nepal, and Bhutan. The bloc's secretariat is located in Dhaka. Bangladesh assumed the chairmanship of BIMSTEC in April 2025.
Four nominated in official letter
The decision not to send Bangladesh's home minister is also reflected in an official diplomatic letter from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
The letter, sent to the BIMSTEC Secretariat on 4 October, listed a four-member Bangladesh delegation for the meetings on 12 and 13 October. The home minister's name was not included on the list.
The letter sent to the BIMSTEC Secretariat stated that the delegation would be led by Home Ministry Senior Secretary Monzur Morshed Chowdhury.
Meanwhile, details about the meeting's preparations also surfaced from an urgent letter sent by the BIMSTEC Secretariat to the foreign ministries of the member countries on 5 October.
The letter noted that Bangladesh had submitted its delegation nominations on 4 October. As of 5 October, nominations had been received from Bangladesh, Bhutan and Sri Lanka. The remaining three countries—Myanmar, Nepal, and Thailand were urged to send their representatives' names promptly. Earlier, on 2 September, the BIMSTEC Secretariat had sent a letter requesting nominations from the member states.
Attendees at the Delhi meeting
According to the BIMSTEC Secretariat and diplomatic sources in Delhi, Indian Home Minister Amit Shah will chair the home minister-level meeting. The preceding day's meeting of senior home ministry officials will be conducted by India's Home Secretary, Govind Mohan.
Representing the other nations, Bhutan's Home Minister Lungten Dorji, Myanmar's Home Minister General Ko Ko Oo, Nepal's Home Minister Sudan Gurung, Sri Lanka's Home Minister Chandana Aberathne and Thailand's Deputy Minister of Interior Songsak Thongsri are scheduled to participate.
Terrorism and cross-border crime on the agenda
According to relevant sources, strengthening cooperation to combat terrorism and cross-border crime in the region will be a major focus at the Delhi meeting. Discussions will cover preventing human trafficking, drug smuggling, money laundering, and terror financing, as well as enhancing coordination among the law enforcement and security agencies of the member states.
The report and recommendations from the 11th meeting of the BIMSTEC Joint Working Group on Counter-Terrorism and Transnational Crime, held in Delhi on 28 and 29 September, will also feature prominently in the upcoming discussions.
A press release issued by the Indian Ministry of External Affairs on 29 September stated that representatives from all seven member countries, including Bangladesh, attended that meeting. It was chaired by Suhel Ajaz Khan, Additional Secretary (Counter Terrorism) at the Indian Ministry of External Affairs.
The meeting discussed traditional security threats in the region alongside emerging non-traditional ones. Several recommendations were made to boost cooperation in tackling terrorism and transnational crime.
Furthermore, the meeting reviewed reports from sub-groups dedicated to addressing human trafficking; preventing the illicit trade of narcotics and precursor chemicals; curbing money laundering and terror financing; fostering legal and law enforcement cooperation; and countering extremism and terrorism.
Decision made 8 years ago, first meeting now
The decision to hold a home minister-level meeting for BIMSTEC was made eight years ago. During the bloc's fourth summit in Kathmandu, Nepal, on 30 and 31 August 2018, leaders of the member states agreed to organise regular meetings at the home ministerial level.
The Kathmandu Declaration pledged to strengthen cooperation and coordination among the law enforcement agencies, intelligence bodies, and security institutions of the member countries. It was also decided to continue meetings at the National Security Advisor level alongside the home ministers' meetings.
However, no home minister-level meeting had taken place since that decision until now. A concept paper outlining the organisation of the home ministers' meeting was approved at the 20th BIMSTEC Ministerial Meeting in Bangkok in April 2025. Almost a year and a half later, the first such meeting is finally set to take place in Delhi.