India hosted the 11th meeting of the BIMSTEC Joint Working Group on Counter Terrorism and Transnational Crime (JWG-CTTC) in New Delhi on 28–29 September 2026, with delegations from all seven member states in attendance, the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) confirmed on Tuesday. The two-day session brought together representatives from Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Myanmar, Nepal, Sri Lanka, and Thailand to deliberate on shared security challenges across the Bay of Bengal region.

Key Developments at the Meeting

The meeting was chaired by Suhel Ajaz Khan, Additional Secretary (Counter Terrorism) in the Ministry of External Affairs. According to the MEA statement, delegates discussed both 'traditional and emerging non-traditional security threats' in the BIMSTEC region and made recommendations to strengthen cooperation in countering terrorism and transnational crime.

Crucially, the session reviewed progress reports from five specialised sub-groups operating under the JWG-CTTC framework: the sub-group on human trafficking; the sub-group on prevention of illicit trafficking in narcotic drugs, psychotropic substances and precursor chemicals; the sub-group on anti-money laundering and combating the financing of terrorism; the sub-group on legal and law enforcement issues; and the sub-group on countering radicalisation and terrorism.

Agenda: From Narcotics to Radicalisation

The breadth of the agenda reflects the multidimensional security environment that BIMSTEC member states face collectively. Human trafficking networks, cross-border drug flows, and terrorism financing have all intensified as concerns in the Indian Ocean littoral over the past decade. By addressing these under a single working group, the bloc is attempting to build a coordinated architecture rather than a patchwork of bilateral arrangements.

Notably, the inclusion of a dedicated sub-group on radicalisation signals awareness of the ideological dimension of the terrorism threat — an area where intelligence-sharing frameworks remain underdeveloped across South and Southeast Asia.

Context: Building on the July NSA-Level Meeting

The JWG-CTTC session follows a high-level meeting in July 2026, when National Security Chiefs of all BIMSTEC member states convened in New Delhi for the fifth BIMSTEC National Security Chiefs meeting, chaired by National Security Advisor (NSA) Ajit Doval. That meeting focused on practical, result-oriented solutions to combat terrorism and organised crime, and also addressed cyber security, maritime security, energy security, connectivity, and disaster management.

Together, the two meetings — at the NSA level in July and the working-group level in September — indicate an accelerated operational tempo within BIMSTEC's security pillar. This comes amid India's broader strategic emphasis on its 'Neighbourhood First' and 'Act East' policies, which use BIMSTEC as a key multilateral bridge.

Why BIMSTEC Matters for Regional Security

BIMSTEC uniquely bridges South Asia and Southeast Asia, encompassing some of the most active maritime trade lanes and migration corridors of the Indian Ocean. The grouping has over the years deepened cooperation in regional security, disaster management, transport, trade connectivity, and people-to-people ties. With terrorism financing and drug trafficking increasingly cross-border in nature, multilateral working groups like the JWG-CTTC provide a forum for intelligence coordination that bilateral channels cannot fully replicate.

The outcome recommendations from the 11th JWG-CTTC are expected to feed into the next BIMSTEC summit-level agenda, reinforcing the group's security architecture at a time of heightened regional uncertainty.