Bangladesh Home Minister Salahuddin Ahmed will not attend the first BIMSTEC Home Ministers’ meeting in New Delhi on Tuesday, with Dhaka deputing a senior bureaucrat to represent the country amid strained ties with India.Home Affairs Senior Secretary Manzur Morshed Chowdhury will lead the Bangladeshi delegation at the October 13 meeting, chaired by Home Minister Amit Shah.Nepal Home Minister Sudhan Gurung arrived in New Delhi on Monday to attend the meeting. He was received at the Indira Gandhi International Airport by Charge d’Affaires Dr Surendra Thapa, embassy officials and representatives of the Government of India. Gurung is scheduled to return to Nepal on October 14.The meeting, themed “Anchored in Security: Sailing Towards Prosperity”, will bring together representatives of the seven-member Bay of Bengal Initiative for Multi-Sectoral Technical and Economic Cooperation (BIMSTEC) to strengthen regional cooperation against terrorism, transnational organised crime, narcotics trafficking and other cross-border threats.Bangladesh’s decision to send a senior official rather than its Home Minister comes against the backdrop of strained relations between Dhaka and New Delhi.However, the country will remain represented at the meeting. No official explanation has been given for the minister’s absence.Bangladesh assumed the BIMSTEC chairmanship in April 2025. Prime Minister Tarique Rahman also did not attend the BRICS summit outreach session in New Delhi in September, despite an invitation extended to him in his capacity as BIMSTEC Chair.Senior officials from member states’ home and interior ministries met on Monday ahead of the ministerial discussions. The agenda includes counter-terrorism, human trafficking, terror financing, money laundering and improving information-sharing among law enforcement agencies.The meeting follows the 11th session of the BIMSTEC Joint Working Group on Counter-Terrorism and Transnational Crime, held in New Delhi on September 28 and 29, where representatives of all seven member states reviewed emerging security threats and ways to strengthen regional cooperation.The first dedicated meeting of BIMSTEC home ministers comes nearly eight years after member states agreed at the grouping’s 2018 Kathmandu summit to deepen coordination among law enforcement, intelligence and security agencies.Established in 1997, BIMSTEC comprises Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Myanmar, Nepal, Sri Lanka and Thailand. The meeting aims to strengthen practical cooperation against shared security threats.