Kathmandu, Oct 13: Home Minister Sudhan Gurung left for India on Tuesday afternoon to attend a meeting of home ministers from member countries of the Bay of Bengal Initiative for Multi-Sectoral Technical and Economic Cooperation (BIMSTEC).
Gurung departed from Tribhuvan International Airport for the meeting scheduled to take place in New Delhi on Tuesday.
BIMSTEC brings together seven countries: Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Myanmar, Nepal, Sri Lanka and Thailand. Established in 1997, the grouping links South Asia and Southeast Asia through cooperation in trade, connectivity, security and other areas. Nepal joined the organisation in February 2004.
India leads BIMSTEC’s security sector, which covers counterterrorism and transnational crime, disaster management and energy. Cooperation under this framework includes exchanges among national agencies and joint efforts to address threats that cross borders.
Member countries signed a convention on combating international terrorism, transnational organised crime and illicit drug trafficking in 2009. It entered into force in March 2021 after all members ratified it.
The convention provides a framework for cooperation among governments and law enforcement agencies in tackling these crimes.
BIMSTEC also maintains working groups dealing with legal and law enforcement issues, money laundering and terrorist financing as part of its broader regional security cooperation.
People’s News Monitoring Service
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