BIMSTEC holds meeting on Counter Terror in New Delhi

A meeting of the BIMSTEC Joint Working Group on Counter Terrorism and Transnational Crime started on January 12. This meeting is being hosted by the Government of India in New Delhi and features participation from Bangladesh, Bhutan, Myanmar, Nepal, Sri Lanka and Thailand.

The working group on counter terror deals with a few key realms of policy. These include “six Sub-Groups on (a) Intelligence Sharing (b) Legal and Law Enforcement (c) Countering Radicalization and Terrorism (d) Anti- Money Laundering and Combating the Financing of Terrorism (e) Human Trafficking and (f) Narcotic Drugs, Psychotropic Substances and Precursor Chemicals,” said a statement by the Ministry of External Affairs.

“The meeting discussed traditional and emerging non-traditional security threats in the BIMSTEC region. The participants deliberated and made recommendations on wide ranging issues to enhance cooperation and collaboration in countering terrorism and transnational crimes in the region,” the MEA statement went on to add.

BIMSTEC, or the Bay of Bengal Initiative for Multi-Sectoral Technical and Economic Cooperation, is a regional grouping of 7 member states which first began meeting in 1997. Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, India and Thailand launched the grouping by signing the Bangkok Declaration.

According to BIMSTEC, cooperation “initially focused on six sectors in 1997 (trade, technology, energy, transport, tourism, and fisheries) and expanded in 2008 to incorporate agriculture, public health, poverty alleviation, counter-terrorism, environment, culture, people-to-people contact, and climate change.”

During the Working Group meeting on Counter Terror and Transnational Crime, India was represented by Secretary (West) Sanjay Verma and Joint Secretary for Counterterrorism Mahaveer Singhvi. Singhvi chaired the meeting.

Secretary Verma “emphasized the need for collective efforts in countering the menace of terrorism and transnational crimes through enhanced cooperation in the fields of capacity building, information exchange, extradition and legal assistance,” according to the MEA’s press release detailing the outcomes of the event.