Bangladesh Home Minister Salahuddin Ahmed will not attend the first-ever meeting of home ministers from the seven member countries of the Bay of Bengal Initiative for Multi-Sectoral Technical and Economic Cooperation (BIMSTEC), scheduled to take place in New Delhi, India, on Tuesday.
Instead, a Bangladeshi delegation led by Senior Secretary of the Ministry of Home Affairs Manzur Morshed Chowdhury will attend the meeting.
Sources at Bangladesh’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs said home ministers and ministers of state from the other six member countries would participate in the meeting. Senior officials from the home affairs ministries of the member states are scheduled to hold their first round of discussions on October 12, a day before the ministerial meeting.
Several senior government officials, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the decision for Salahuddin Ahmed not to travel to Delhi was made against the backdrop of strained relations between Bangladesh and India.
The meeting marks the first time home ministers from all seven BIMSTEC member countries are scheduled to convene.
