India hosts first BIMSTEC Home Ministers' Meeting; Delhi Declaration adopted

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India hosts first BIMSTEC Home Ministers' Meeting; Delhi Declaration adopted

13 October 2026

Union Home Minister Amit Shah chaired the first meeting of BIMSTEC Home Ministers in New Delhi on 13 October 2026. Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Myanmar, Nepal, Sri Lanka and Thailand took part, and the Union Home Secretary led the senior officials' meeting. The ministers approved the BIMSTEC Convention against Trafficking in Persons and the BIMSTEC Plan of Action on Drug Control. They also approved an MoU on capacity building to combat money laundering and terror financing, a Plan of Action on Illicit Financial Flows, and a Plan of Action on natural disaster preparedness in the Bay of Bengal region. The meeting adopted the Delhi Declaration on security cooperation under BIMSTEC. Shah said a BIMSTEC Disaster Management Centre is planned at Jamnagar, Gujarat.

Chair: Union Home Minister Amit Shah Venue: New Delhi Declaration adopted: Delhi Declaration Planned BIMSTEC Disaster Management Centre: Jamnagar, Gujarat

Why it matters for exams: Regional groupings, their first-ever ministerial meetings and the places named in them are favourite questions in GK and international-relations sections.

Kerala PSCUPSCSSC

13 October 2026 Source: Press Information Bureau (Ministry of Home Affairs)

In plain words

BIMSTEC Bay of Bengal Initiative for Multi-Sectoral Technical and Economic Cooperation — A regional grouping of Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Myanmar, Nepal, Sri Lanka and Thailand.

MoU Memorandum of Understanding — A written understanding between parties, here on training and cooperation against financial crime.