• Minister of External Affairs S. Jaishankar participated in the 8th Indian Ocean Conference in Oman on February 16.

• During the conference, Jaishankar delivered the keynote address in the inaugural session, underscoring India’s commitment to strengthening regional cooperation and ensuring a stable and prosperous Indian Ocean region.

What is Indian Ocean Conference?

• The Indian Ocean Conference was started by India Foundation in 2016 at Singapore, with participation from 30 countries.

• Over the years, the Conference has emerged as the flagship consultative forum for countries over regional affairs. 

• The Conference endeavours to bring critical states and principal maritime partners of the region together on a common platform to deliberate upon the prospects of regional cooperation for Security and Growth for All in the Region (SAGAR).

• This year’s theme is ‘Voyages to New Horizons of Maritime Partnership’.

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.

• The natural construct of the region has left behind global romanticism enveloping alliances of the past. The Indian Ocean Region (IOR) has emerged as a microcosm of partnerships, collaborations, and bilateral and multilateral dependence.

• 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.

Security and Growth for All in the Region (SAGAR)

In March 2015, Prime Minister Narendra Modi put forward the concept of ‘Security and Growth for All in the Region’ (SAGAR), proposing a holistic vision for India’s engagement with this region.

In its implementation, this approach includes:

a) Projects to promote hinterland linkages and strengthen regional connectivity.

b) Linking South Asia to Southeast Asia (Act East) and to the Gulf (Think West).

c) Playing an active and constructive role in strengthening regional maritime security.

How India contributes to shared endeavours in Indian Ocean Region?

India has been playing a key role in the region by rapidly strengthening its  capabilities and forging partnerships with Indian Ocean neighbours, near and far. And also by shouldering responsibilities, stepping up in times of trouble.

Here are some points listed by Jaishankar in his address:

1) Stabilising economies and societies under stress would surely rank among the most important. As the impact of COVID and conflict unfolded, India was the source of vaccines, medicines, food, fuel and fertilizer for many others. The biggest commitment it made was to Sri Lanka – a financial package of $4 billion to stabilise its economy that had slid into a crisis.

2) The India–Middle East–Europe Economic Corridor (IMEC) and the India Myanmar Thailand Trilateral Highway (IMTT) would be among the two key collaborative connectivity initiatives under consideration. The International North South Transport Corridor (INSTC) is another significant example. India is obviously the common element in all of them. IMEC and INSTC have an explicit maritime segment, while the IMTT would provide a land link between India and the Pacific.

3) India has increasingly been active in a First Responder mode in the Indian Ocean Region. This could be the conflict in Yemen, natural disasters in Mozambique, Sri Lanka or Myanmar, earthquakes in Nepal and Turkey  or a water crisis in the Maldives. Both off Mauritius and Sri Lanka, India has responded to significant oil spills.

4) Recognising that an institutional response is required for disaster situations, India has been active in encouraging plurilateral cooperation. The most notable of these is the Quad initiative that encourages interoperability and cooperation for such contingencies. Similarly, Regional Cooperation Agreement on Combating Piracy and Armed Robbery against Ships in Asia (ReCAAP) centre at Singapore to which India contributes helps address the challenge of piracy.

5) In a world of increasing traditional and non-traditional threats in the maritime domain, it is essential that there is a common operating picture as well as shared platforms. The International Fusion Centre located outside Delhi aims to do just that. By establishing coastal surveillance radars and partnering on White Shipping agreements, maritime traffic is made safer and more secure for our collective benefit.

6) Extreme situations sometimes require robust countering, including through the deployment of naval forces. For more than a year now, India has been doing precisely that in the Northern Arabian Sea and Gulf of Aden. Today, we are seeing some improvement in maritime safety and security as a result of such coordinated responses.

7) Training and equipping other navies and coast guards is a natural extension of this approach. India has such collaboration with a range of countries, from Vietnam to Mauritius and Mozambique to Sri Lanka.

8) Ensuring trusted communication in a digital era is a crucial national security objective for many of us. This is a task too big to be attempted by most individual nations. Participating in consortiums is therefore an inevitable outcome. Both as government and as vendor, India is contributing its fair share and more in this regard. 

9) The Indo-Pacific is experiencing activity of both resident and non-resident powers. Harmonising them is a challenge that India, in particular, is well placed to address. It has the confidence of the Global South as well as the credentials to engage major powers. The country strives to ensure that agendas alien to our ethos and outlook are not inserted in the region. And equally encourage respect for UNCLOS in both spirit and letter.

10) India has been energetic in institution building in the Indian Ocean Region. We have the Indian Ocean Rim Association (IORA), BIMSTEC, Indian Ocean Naval Symposium (IONS), Colombo Security Conclave and the India Indo-Pacific Oceans Initiative which brings together so many stakeholders at various levels.

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