India hosts the first BIMSTEC Home Ministers' Meeting and the ministers adopt the Delhi Declaration

13 October 2026

India hosted the first ministerial-level meeting of BIMSTEC Home Ministers in New Delhi, chaired by Union Home Minister Amit Shah. Ministers and delegations from Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Myanmar, Nepal, Sri Lanka and Thailand took part, and the Union Home Secretary led the preparatory Senior Officials' Meeting. The fourth BIMSTEC Summit of 2018 had agreed to hold such meetings of Home Ministers, and at the sixth Summit in Bangkok on 4 April 2025 Prime Minister Narendra Modi committed India to host the first one. The ministers approved the BIMSTEC Convention against Trafficking in Persons, the BIMSTEC Plan of Action on Drug Control covering narcotic drugs, psychotropic substances and precursor chemicals, a Memorandum of Understanding on Capacity Building to Combat Money Laundering and Terror Financing, the BIMSTEC Plan of Action on Illicit Financial Flows and Their Prevention and an Action Plan on disaster preparedness in the Bay of Bengal region. Five priority areas of cooperation were set out: drug control, counter-terrorism and legal cooperation, return of fugitive offenders, cybersecurity and cybercrime investigation, and institutional cooperation and capacity building. Amit Shah said a BIMSTEC Disaster Management Centre, proposed by the Prime Minister at the sixth Summit, is planned to be set up at Jamnagar in Gujarat, and he urged member countries to take part in making the proposed centre operational. The meeting adopted the Delhi Declaration, which sets out principles of information sharing, mutual legal assistance, extradition and capacity building.