BIMSTEC to combat terror together
North East News Agency

The Second Meeting of the Bay of Bengal Initiative for Multi-Sectoral Technical and Economic Cooperation (BIMSTEC) Joint Working Group on Counter Terrorism and Transnational Crime (JWG-CTTC) was held in New Delhi on May 04-05, 2006.

The meeting reviewed the Reports of the meetings of its      four sub-groups on Legal and Law Enforcement Issues, Intelligence Sharing, Combating Financing of Terrorism and Illicit Trafficking in Narcotic Drugs, Psychotropic Substances and Precursor Chemicals.

The Meeting decided on ways and means to further streamline the functioning of these four Sub-Groups. It also agreed upon concrete steps to strengthen cooperation among the BIMSTEC countries to make these Sub-Groups more vibrant and effective.

The Meeting was chaired by  Rajiv Sikri, Secretary (East), Ministry of External Affairs, Government of India, who also led the Indian delegation. Other delegations to the meeting were led by Anwarul Karim, Joint Secretary, Ministry of Home Affairs, Bangladesh; Tharchean, Senior Legal Officer/Under Secretary, Bureau of Law and Order, Ministry of Home and Cultural Affairs, Bhutan; Brig. Gen. Phone Swe, Deputy Minister, Ministry of Home Affairs, Myanmar; Deepak Kumar Shrestha, Counsellor of Royal Nepalese Embassy, New Delhi; Karunatilaka Amunugama, Additional Secretary, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Sri Lanka; General Winai Phattiyakul, Secretary General, Office of the National Security Council, Thailand. It may be recalled that the first BIMSTEC Summit held in Bangkok on July 31, 2004 had decided to set up a Joint Working Group to strengthen joint efforts on counter terrorism and transnational crime, and the first meeting of the Joint Working Group on Counter Terrorism and Transnational Crime was held in New Delhi on December 9-10, 2004.

The meeting will help the BIMSTEC countries immensely as this part of the globe is badly affected by terrorism, drug trafficking, arms smuggling, etc. Proper cooperation among the countries will help the countries to combat these menace. It was agreed that the next Meeting of the Joint Working Group would be held in Myanmar in December 2006.

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