• India hosted the 8th Edition of the Indian Ocean Dialogue virtually on December 15 with the assistance of the Indian Council for World Affairs (ICWA) and the Indian Ocean Rim Association (IORA) Secretariat. 

• Senior level experts from various ministries/agencies of the government, think tanks, national lead organisations of IORA Member States and dialogue partners working on related subjects participated in the Dialogue.

What is Indian Ocean Dialogue?

• The Indian Ocean Dialogue is a premier track 1.5 forum for open and free flowing dialogue among various stakeholders — scholars, experts, analysts, and policy makers from governments, think tanks and civil societies on strategic issues of interest and concern facing the region and beyond.

• It is a flagship initiative of the Indian Ocean Rim Association (IORA), with its origins in the 13th Council of Ministers meeting, held in November 2013 in Perth, Australia. 

• The first Indian Ocean Dialogue was held in Kerala, India in 2014.

• The seventh edition was hosted by the UAE virtually in February 2021.

What is the Indian Ocean Rim Association (IORA)?

• The Indian Ocean Rim Association (IORA) is an inter-governmental organisation formed in 1997 to foster regional economic cooperation. IORA has evolved into the peak regional group spanning the Indian Ocean.

• From its inception with 14 member states, the membership has expanded to 23 countries: Australia, Bangladesh, the Comoros, France, India, Indonesia, Iran, Kenya, Madagascar, Malaysia, Maldives, Mauritius, Mozambique, Oman, Seychelles, Singapore, Somalia, South Africa, Sri Lanka, Tanzania, Thailand, the United Arab Emirates and Yemen. 

• IORA has 10 dialogue partners: China, Egypt, Germany, Italy, Japan, Turkey, Russia, South Korea, the United Kingdom and the United States of America.

• IORA became an observer to the UN General Assembly and the African Union in 2015.

• Decisions made within IORA are reached by consensus and commitments are undertaken on a voluntary basis.

• The IORA Secretariat is based in Mauritius. It is headed by a fixed term Secretary-General. 

• India is one of the founding members of IORA.

The Indian Ocean

• As the third largest ocean woven together by trade routes, commands control of major sea-lanes carrying half of the world’s container ships, one third of the world’s bulk cargo traffic and two thirds of the world’s oil shipments, the Indian Ocean remains an important lifeline to international trade and transport.

• The ocean lies at the heart of the economic and civilisational impulses that stretch from the eastern and southern shores of Africa all the way up to Australia.

• Home to nearly 2.7 billion people, member states whose shores are washed by the ocean are rich in cultural diversity and richness in languages, religions, traditions, arts and cuisines.

• They vary considerably in terms of their areas, populations and levels of economic development. They may also be divided into a number of sub-regions (Australasia, Southeast Asia, South Asia, West Asia and Eastern & Southern Africa), each with their own regional groupings (such as ASEAN, SAARC, GCC and SADC, to name a few). Despite such diversity and differences, these countries are bound together by the Indian Ocean. 

• India, being strategically located in the Indian Ocean Region with an extensive coastline and presence of several islands, has a long maritime tradition. This has helped the country to forge deep rooted commercial, cultural and religious ties with countries in the region over centuries and evolve a vision that encompasses the interests of all.

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