New York: The 10th meeting of the BIMSTEC Joint Working Group on Counter Terrorism and Transnational Crime (JWG-CTTC), hosted by Government of India, began on Thursday in New Delhi. 

Delegation from all the BIMSTEC Members States i.e. Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Myanmar, Nepal, Sri Lanka and Thailand attended the meeting.

The inaugural session of the meeting was addressed by Shri Sanjay Verma, Secretary(West), Ministry of External Affairs of India. He 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. Shri Mahaveer Singhvi, Joint Secretary for Counter Terrorism, Ministry of External Affairs of India, chaired the meeting.

India is the lead country for the Security Pillar under the BIMSTEC framework. Under the Security Pillar, the mechanism of BIMSTEC Joint Working Group on Counter Terrorism and Transnational Crime (JWG-CTTC), oversees the work of 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.

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 meeting discussed and endorsed the reports of the meetings of various sub-groups. The delegates also deliberated on different aspects of implementation of the BIMSTEC Convention on Cooperation in Combating International Terrorism, Transnational Organized Crime and Illicit Drug Trafficking, which entered into force on 16 March 2021 upon ratification by all Member States.

The meeting further discussed on institutional mechanism for CTTC cooperation, Information Sharing System, and Capacity Building for BIMSTEC countries.