SYLLABUS
GS-2: Bilateral, regional and global groupings and agreements involving India and/or affecting India’s interests.
Context: The first BIMSTEC Home Ministers’ Meeting concluded in New Delhi with the adoption of the Delhi Declaration to strengthen regional security cooperation and combat transnational crimes.
More on the News
- The decision to establish the Home Ministers’ Meeting mechanism was taken at the Fourth BIMSTEC Summit in Kathmandu in 2018.
- The Sixth BIMSTEC Summit, held in Bangkok in April 2025, welcomed the mechanism to strengthen regional security cooperation.
- Chaired by Union Home Minister Amit Shah, the inaugural meeting adopted the Delhi Declaration and approved five regional security initiatives covering human trafficking, drug control, money laundering and terror financing, illicit financial flows, and disaster management.
About the Delhi Declaration
- The declaration reaffirms BIMSTEC members’ commitment to regional peace and security, recognising the Bay of Bengal region as a common security space facing shared transnational threats.
- Key Provisions
- Counter-Terrorism: Condemns terrorism, violent extremism and cross-border terrorism, and calls for cooperation against radicalisation, terrorist recruitment and terror financing.
- Transnational Crime: Strengthens cooperation against drug trafficking, organised crime, cybercrime and human trafficking, including the protection of victims exploited in online scam operations.
- Legal Cooperation: Emphasises the implementation of existing BIMSTEC security conventions and action plans, alongside cooperation in mutual legal assistance, extradition and related legal frameworks.
- Information Sharing and Capacity Building: Promotes intelligence sharing, specialised training and institutional cooperation to tackle transnational crimes.
- International Cooperation: Encourages collaboration with international organisations, including the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC), INTERPOL and the Financial Action Task Force (FATF), and commits members to holding Home Ministers’ Meetings regularly.
About BIMSTEC
- Full Form: Bay of Bengal Initiative for Multi-Sectoral Technical and Economic Cooperation.
- Establishment: 6 June 1997, through the Bangkok Declaration.
- Initial Name: BIST-EC (Bangladesh–India–Sri Lanka–Thailand Economic Cooperation).
- Expansion: Myanmar joined on 22 December 1997.
- Nepal and Bhutan joined in 2004.
- The grouping adopted its present name at the First BIMSTEC Summit in Bangkok on 31 July 2004.
- Members: Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Myanmar, Nepal, Sri Lanka and Thailand.
- Secretariat: Established in Dhaka, Bangladesh, in 2014, following a decision at the Third BIMSTEC Summit.
- Objective: To promote regional integration and multidimensional cooperation between South and Southeast Asia, particularly among countries bordering the Bay of Bengal.
- Sectoral Evolution: Initially covered six sectors in 1997—trade, technology, energy, transport, tourism and fisheries. Cooperation expanded in 2008 and was reorganised in 2021 into seven sectors.
- First Summit: The First BIMSTEC Summit was held in Bangkok, Thailand, on 31 July 2004.
- Summits Held: Six BIMSTEC Summits have been held so far, with the Sixth Summit held in Bangkok on 4 April 2025.
- Growing Strategic Significance: BIMSTEC has gained prominence in India’s foreign policy as a platform to strengthen the Neighbourhood First and Act East policies and deepen engagement with Southeast Asia.
- India increasingly uses BIMSTEC to advance regional cooperation amid limitations within SAARC, particularly India–Pakistan tensions; however, BIMSTEC complements rather than replaces SAARC.
- Institutional Structure: BIMSTEC has five tiers:
- Summit of Heads of State or Government.
- Ministerial Meeting of Foreign Ministers.
- Sectoral Ministerial Meetings.
- Senior Officials’ Meeting.
- BIMSTEC Permanent Working Committee (BPWC).