The 9th Meeting of the Bay of Bengal Initiative for Multi-Sectoral Technical and Economic Cooperation (BIMSTEC) Joint Working Group on Counter-Terrorism and Transnational Crime was recently held. During the meeting, emerging traditional and non-traditional security threats in the BIMSTEC region were discussed. The Indian delegation highlighted threats emanating from cross-border terrorism from terrorist groups such as Lashkar-E-Taiba and Jaish-E-Mohammed and transnational organized crime such as drug trafficking and illegal weapons smuggling. The meeting deliberated and made recommendations on wide-ranging issues to enhance cooperation and collaboration in countering terrorism and transnational crimes in the region.
Modalities for implementation of the BIMSTEC Convention on Cooperation in Combating International Terrorism, Transnational Organized Crime, and Illicit Drug Trafficking which entered into force on 16th of March this year was also discussed. The meeting was attended by all the BIMSTEC Members States, that is, Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Myanmar, Nepal, Sri Lanka, and Thailand.
