diff --git a/litellm/main.py b/litellm/main.py
index c48c242ce..55ac01935 100644
--- a/litellm/main.py
+++ b/litellm/main.py
@@ -2212,15 +2212,26 @@ def completion(
             custom_prompt_dict = custom_prompt_dict or litellm.custom_prompt_dict
 
             if "aws_bedrock_client" in optional_params:
+                verbose_logger.warning(
+                    "'aws_bedrock_client' is a deprecated param. Please move to another auth method - https://docs.litellm.ai/docs/providers/bedrock#boto3---authentication."
+                )
                 # Extract credentials for legacy boto3 client and pass thru to httpx
                 aws_bedrock_client = optional_params.pop("aws_bedrock_client")
                 creds = aws_bedrock_client._get_credentials().get_frozen_credentials()
+
                 if creds.access_key:
                     optional_params["aws_access_key_id"] = creds.access_key
                 if creds.secret_key:
                     optional_params["aws_secret_access_key"] = creds.secret_key
                 if creds.token:
                     optional_params["aws_session_token"] = creds.token
+                if (
+                    "aws_region_name" not in optional_params
+                    or optional_params["aws_region_name"] is None
+                ):
+                    optional_params["aws_region_name"] = (
+                        aws_bedrock_client.meta.region_name
+                    )
 
             if model in litellm.BEDROCK_CONVERSE_MODELS:
                 response = bedrock_converse_chat_completion.completion(
diff --git a/litellm/tests/test_bedrock_completion.py b/litellm/tests/test_bedrock_completion.py
index 6e39c30b3..fb4ba7556 100644
--- a/litellm/tests/test_bedrock_completion.py
+++ b/litellm/tests/test_bedrock_completion.py
@@ -856,3 +856,56 @@ async def test_bedrock_custom_prompt_template():
         prompt = json.loads(mock_client_post.call_args.kwargs["data"])["prompt"]
         assert prompt == "<|im_start|>user\nWhat's AWS?<|im_end|>"
         mock_client_post.assert_called_once()
+
+
+def test_completion_bedrock_external_client_region():
+    print("\ncalling bedrock claude external client auth")
+    import os
+
+    aws_access_key_id = os.environ["AWS_ACCESS_KEY_ID"]
+    aws_secret_access_key = os.environ["AWS_SECRET_ACCESS_KEY"]
+    aws_region_name = "us-east-1"
+
+    os.environ.pop("AWS_ACCESS_KEY_ID", None)
+    os.environ.pop("AWS_SECRET_ACCESS_KEY", None)
+
+    client = HTTPHandler()
+
+    try:
+        import boto3
+
+        litellm.set_verbose = True
+
+        bedrock = boto3.client(
+            service_name="bedrock-runtime",
+            region_name=aws_region_name,
+            aws_access_key_id=aws_access_key_id,
+            aws_secret_access_key=aws_secret_access_key,
+            endpoint_url=f"https://bedrock-runtime.{aws_region_name}.amazonaws.com",
+        )
+        with patch.object(client, "post", new=Mock()) as mock_client_post:
+            try:
+                response = completion(
+                    model="bedrock/anthropic.claude-instant-v1",
+                    messages=messages,
+                    max_tokens=10,
+                    temperature=0.1,
+                    aws_bedrock_client=bedrock,
+                    client=client,
+                )
+                # Add any assertions here to check the response
+                print(response)
+            except Exception as e:
+                pass
+
+            print(f"mock_client_post.call_args: {mock_client_post.call_args}")
+            assert "us-east-1" in mock_client_post.call_args.kwargs["url"]
+
+            mock_client_post.assert_called_once()
+
+        os.environ["AWS_ACCESS_KEY_ID"] = aws_access_key_id
+        os.environ["AWS_SECRET_ACCESS_KEY"] = aws_secret_access_key
+    except RateLimitError:
+        pass
+    except Exception as e:
+        pytest.fail(f"Error occurred: {e}")