BIMSTEC Joint Working Group

Contact Counsellor

Last Updated29/11/2021

India participated in the 9th Meeting of the BIMSTEC Joint Working Group on Counter Terrorism and Transnational Crime (JWG-CTTC), hosted by Bhutan virtually.
The meeting discussed emerging traditional and non-traditional security threats in the BIMSTEC region.
The Indian delegation highlighted threats emanating from cross-border terrorism from terrorist groups such as LeT, JeM, HM etc. and transnational organized crime such as drug trafficking, illegal weapons smuggling etc.

The meeting deliberated and made recommendations on wide ranging issues to enhance cooperation and collaboration in countering terrorism and transnational crimes in the region.
The meeting also discussed 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 16 March 2021 upon ratification by all Member States.
India would be hosting the tenth Meeting of the BIMSTEC Joint Working Group on Counter Terrorism and Transnational Crimes (JWG-CTTC) in 2022.

It is an international organisation of seven South Asian and Southeast Asian nations, housing 1.73 billion people and having a combined gross domestic product of $3.8 trillion (2021).
There are 7 nations in BIMSTEC
There are five Southasian nations:

A BIMSTEC free trade agreement is under negotiation (c. 2018), also referred to as the mini SAARC.
Leadership is rotated in alphabetical order of country names. The permanent secretariat is in Dhaka, Bangladesh.
Secretary General: Tenzin Lekphell (Bhutan)
Establishment: 6 June 1997

Creating an enabling environment for the rapid economic development of the sub-region.
Encouraging the spirit of equality and partnership.
Promoting active collaboration and mutual assistance in the areas of common interests of the member countries
Accelerating support for each other in the fields of education, science, and technology, etc.

Sovereign Equality
Territorial Integrity
Political Independence
No-interference in Internal Affairs
Peaceful Co- existence
Mutual Benefit
Constitute an addition to and not be a substitute for bilateral, regional or multilateral cooperation involving the Member States.

Neglect by member states: It seems that India has used BIMSTEC only when it fails to work through SAARC in the regional setting and other major members like Thailand and Myanmar are focused more towards ASEAN than BIMSTEC.
Inconsistent Meetings: BIMSTEC planned to hold summits every two years, ministerial meetings every year, but only four summits have taken place in 20 years upto 2018.
Broad Focus Areas: The focus of BIMSTEC is very wide, including 14 areas of cooperation like connectivity, public health, agriculture etc. It is suggested that BIMSTEC should remain committed to small focus areas and cooperate in them efficiently.
No FTA: BIMSTEC FTA was negotiated in 2004, talks on it are yet to be concluded.
Bilateral Issues between Member Nations: Bangladesh is facing one of the worst refugee crisis of Rohingyas from Myanmar who are fleeing prosecution in the state of Rakhine in Myanmar. There is a border conflict between Myanmar and Thailand.
BCIM: The formation of another sub-regional initiative, the Bangladesh-China-India-Myanmar (BCIM) Forum, with the proactive membership of China, has created more doubts about the exclusive potential of BIMSTEC.
India is the Lead Country for BIMSTEC Joint Working Group on Counter Terrorism and Transnational Crime (JWG-CTTC), which also oversees six Sub-Groups on