Pariksha SaathiFirst BIMSTEC Home Ministers' Meeting Concludes in New Delhi with Adoption of the Delhi Declaration
The first-ever Meeting of BIMSTEC Home Ministers, hosted by India in New Delhi on 13 October 2026 under Union Home Minister Amit Shah, concluded the same day with the adoption of the 'Delhi Declaration' by the home ministers of all seven BIMSTEC members - Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Myanmar, Nepal, Sri Lanka and Thailand. The declaration traces the mechanism to the 4th BIMSTEC Summit in Kathmandu (August 2018), which first proposed Home Ministers' meetings alongside those of National Security Advisers, and to the 6th Summit in Bangkok (April 2025), which approved setting it up. In the text, the ministers strongly condemned terrorism and cross-border terrorism 'in all its forms', reaffirmed commitment to fully implementing the BIMSTEC Convention on Combating International Terrorism, Transnational Organised Crime and Illicit Drug Trafficking (in force since March 2021) and the Convention on Mutual Legal Assistance in Criminal Matters (signed March 2022), and called for early finalisation of draft conventions on extradition, transfer of sentenced persons and trafficking in persons. They also flagged the growing misuse of technology by transnational crime groups to force trafficking victims into online scam operations, and committed to holding such meetings regularly.
Drafted with AI assistance from the official PIB release linked above and checked against it by a second AI pass. Not line-edited by a human.
Learning context
BIMSTEC was established on 6 June 1997 when Bangladesh, India, Sri Lanka and Thailand signed the Bangkok Declaration, originally as BIST-EC. Myanmar joined on 22 December 1997 (renaming it BIMST-EC), and Bhutan and Nepal joined in February 2004; the grouping took its current name, Bay of Bengal Initiative for Multi-Sectoral Technical and Economic Cooperation (BIMSTEC), at the First Summit in Bangkok on 31 July 2004. Its Secretariat has been based in Dhaka, Bangladesh, since 2014.
Reference: BIMSTEC’s official History page
Check yourself: did all seven current BIMSTEC members join at its founding in 1997?
No — only Bangladesh, India, Sri Lanka and Thailand were founding members in 1997 (as BIST-EC); Myanmar joined later in 1997, and Bhutan and Nepal joined only in 2004, when the group was renamed BIMSTEC.
Revision task: from this release, list the two earlier BIMSTEC Summits that this Home Ministers’ Meeting mechanism traces back to (Kathmandu 2018 and Bangkok 2025), and keep those dates separate from the organisation’s own founding history above.
Test yourself
The first BIMSTEC Home Ministers' Meeting concluded with the adoption of which document?
Show the answer
Answer: Delhi Declaration
The home ministers of all seven members adopted the 'Delhi Declaration' on 13 October 2026, condemning terrorism and cross-border terrorism in all its forms and calling for early finalisation of draft conventions on extradition, transfer of sentenced persons and trafficking in persons.
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