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Can the Western Indian Ocean region be a game changer for India ?
11 March 2019
By ABHISHEK MISHRA & GAYATHRI IYER
The Western Indian Ocean region’s geographical proximity and its rich natural resources, provides India with a great opportunity to increase its maritime security cooperation with African countries.
The Arleigh Burke-class guided-missile destroyer USS Halsey (DDG 97) transits the Indian Ocean. Source: DoD
Recent years have witnessed the hitherto neglected and understudied dimension of maritime power acquire salience in academic and policy circles in India. Also, it is only in the last few years that Africa as a collective entity, has come to realise the importance of its maritime security and the potential of marine resources for fast-developing economies of India and African countries. Out of the 54 nations in Africa, 38 are either coastal or island states with vast coastlines – 18,950 nautical miles or 30,497 kilometres. Further, 90 percent of Africa’s trade is carried out through sea, making the African Maritime Domain (AMD) important for commercial, environmental, developmental, and security reasons. With a booming oil and mining industry, Africa has become the center of global attention, leading to a number of global players like India, China, France, Japan, and others to focus on Africa’s waters.
The Western Indian Ocean (WIO) region, according to Western Indian Ocean Marine Science Association (WIOMSA) is a region consisting of ten countries – Somalia, Kenya, Tanzania, Mozambique, South Africa, Comoros, Madagascar, Seychelles, Mauritius, and Reunion.
Significant proportions of global maritime trade navigate through the area, including a large share of the world’s crude oil supplies. The region is also characterised by high biodiversity both in terms of species and ecosystems.
However, an increase in resource-extraction activities at sea has led to a corresponding rise in the rate of maritime crimes and sea traffic in the WIO. Most African countries, falling in the category of developing or least developed nation, lack the capacity to ensure the security of their declared maritime-zones. This has resulted in vast illegal capture and exploitation of marine resources, giving rise to a clamour for better maritime governance. Additionally, the high incidents of piracy off East African coast, in Gulf of Aden, has brought the issue of African maritime security to the world attention. India on its part is increasingly emphasising the need to increase maritime cooperation with WIO countries and African Island nations’ through offers of greater military aid, capacity building, and training assistance.
An ocean under threat
Most countries in the region have high population growth rates, and coastal development is expected to grow accordingly. The importance of ocean to the people of the region is immense, with over 60 million people inhabiting the coastal zones, and a quarter of these 60 million living within 100 kilometres of the shoreline.
The natural assets of the WIO has been conservatively estimated at $333.8 billion. Fisheries represent the largest asset of the WIO region, estimated at $135 billion, or 40 percent of the total natural assets. The Annual ‘Gross Marine Product (GMP)’ of the region is at least $20.8 billion.
However, like in other parts of Africa, the WIO littorals are at a turning point where rapid economic development and population growth will considerably increase pressures on the ocean assets which provides a source of livelihood and prosperity.
The World Wildlife Fund reports (p. 27) that 35% of the fish stocks assessed in the WIO are fully exploited and 28% are over-exploited. “Kenya and Tanzania have lost about 18% of their mangroves over 25 years, and Mozambique lost 27% over a shorter timeframe.” Over 50% of the shark species assessed in the region are considered threatened. And 71-100% of the region’s coral reefs are at risk, with the exception of those in the Seychelles.
Through wise management, ocean assets can help lift countries out of poverty and achieve the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). However, unsustainable and unhealthy practices pose high threats to the ocean assets. Therefore, it is vital for countries in the WIO region to transform to economic practices that value and nurture the natural asset base of the WIO. The countries and its leaders need to demonstrate commitment on how to navigate towards a sustainable, inclusive blue economy.
The concept of Blue Economy was brought into the discourse with Gunter Pauli’s (2010) book, The Blue Economy 10 years, 100 innovations, 100 million jobs. It mainly includes economic and trade activities that integrate the conservation and sustainable use and management of biodiversity, including maritime ecosystems and genetic resources. As the ten WIO littorals attract attention from global economic powers for the coastal access they provide into African hinterland, it provides for a significant opportunity for bringing Blue Economy to the forefront.
Within Africa, the African Union’s Agenda 2063 lays special emphasis on the development of Blue Economy for the continent’s growth. Similarly, AU’s 2050 Africa Integrated Maritime Strategy (AIMS) seeks “to foster more wealth creation from Africa’s oceans, seas, and inland waterways by developing a thriving maritime economy and realising the full potential of sea-based activities in an environmentally sustainable manner.”
African national Blue Economy initiatives
Three WIO region countries (Mauritius, South Africa, and Seychelles) have initiated their own version of blue print to sustainably manage shared ocean assets. Mauritius is first African country to develop a roadmap for Blue Economy in 2013. The Maurice Ile Durable (MID) initiative, includes a participatory approach towards elaborating a national strategy towards sustainable development, by taking on-board the whole society in the implementation of the project. The initiative is based on five e-pillars; Economy and Employment, Energy, Environment, Education, and Equity.
South Africa’s blue economy model, labelled as ‘Operation Phakisa’ was launched in 2014 as a five-year long project. As a long-term goal, the project aims to move from coordinated sectoral environmental management to integrated environmental ocean management. Also, Seychelles on 31st January 2018, launched the Blue Economy Strategic Framework, which articulates Seychelles’ ‘Blue Economy Brand’ as a unique comparative advantage, based on its sustainability credentials. A vital component of this initiative is the ‘debt-for-adaptation-swap’ which seeks to forgive part of Seychelles’ national debt in exchange for strictly protecting 30% of the EEZ to support climate adaptation.
Pull factor drawing India closer to WIO region
From a geo-strategic and geo-economic point of view, the WIO holds immense value and provides numerous opportunities for countries in the region. The discovery of vast array of natural resources in seabed mining, deep-sea excavations, rare earth materials, oil plants, and large deposits of natural gas, in the WIO region’s ten countries has been a strong pull factor, drawing India and WIO countries in joint undertakings. Various Indian private players continues to invest in diverse along with increased cooperation in extractive resources sector.
For India, using multilateral engagement forums like IORA and IONS, to make the WIO region secure and socio-economically well-managed is vital in order to ensure that the India Ocean littorals are not exploited for their resources or for their geo-locational relevance in a matter prejudicial to India’s economic or security interests.
Given India’s strong diplomatic, cultural, and kinship ties with East African nations, India can leverage its ambassadors in WIO countries to formulate a cooperative framework that outlines clear steps to reduce trade imbalances. India can apply innovative Blue Economy principles to provide ‘Triple A’ (appropriate, affordable, adaptable) technology in WIO in areas of water reuse, wastewater recycling, salt water to fresh water conversion, marine-based renewable energy production, including wave and tidal energy, and management of health of the ocean environment for nutrient rich food sources in a rapidly urbanising coastal scenario.
India’s engagement has expanded and diversified into a broad-based security approach, one which is supplemented by regular shipping visits, sharing of best practices to build capacity through training, transfer of naval hardware and logistical support, naval intelligence, joint military exercise and patrolling of EEZs, and development of listening posts and stations.
Blue Economy provides for significant opportunities for cooperation. African Union has declared it as the “frontline of Africa’s renaissance” and also PM Modi has referred to the Blue Chakra or Wheel in Indian National Flag as representing the potential of Blue economy. Subsequently, in the 2015 Delhi Declaration, both India and Africa reiterated their desire to cooperate on the development of Blue economy.
India can no longer afford to ignore the WIO region. The WIO region’s geographical proximity and its rich natural resources, provides India with a great opportunity to increase its maritime security cooperation with African countries. In future, India not only requires to assist Africa with hard capacity to undertake relevant security tasks, but also needs to play a vital role in the evolution of a comprehensive continental strategy which can improve the lives of African people by creating a model of sustainable maritime development.
The views expressed above belong to the author(s).
www.orfonline.org
11 March 2019
By ABHISHEK MISHRA & GAYATHRI IYER
The Western Indian Ocean region’s geographical proximity and its rich natural resources, provides India with a great opportunity to increase its maritime security cooperation with African countries.
The Arleigh Burke-class guided-missile destroyer USS Halsey (DDG 97) transits the Indian Ocean. Source: DoD
Recent years have witnessed the hitherto neglected and understudied dimension of maritime power acquire salience in academic and policy circles in India. Also, it is only in the last few years that Africa as a collective entity, has come to realise the importance of its maritime security and the potential of marine resources for fast-developing economies of India and African countries. Out of the 54 nations in Africa, 38 are either coastal or island states with vast coastlines – 18,950 nautical miles or 30,497 kilometres. Further, 90 percent of Africa’s trade is carried out through sea, making the African Maritime Domain (AMD) important for commercial, environmental, developmental, and security reasons. With a booming oil and mining industry, Africa has become the center of global attention, leading to a number of global players like India, China, France, Japan, and others to focus on Africa’s waters.
The Western Indian Ocean (WIO) region, according to Western Indian Ocean Marine Science Association (WIOMSA) is a region consisting of ten countries – Somalia, Kenya, Tanzania, Mozambique, South Africa, Comoros, Madagascar, Seychelles, Mauritius, and Reunion.
As an area of major global geo-strategic significance, the WIO remains a space of major geopolitical and naval interaction between states.
Significant proportions of global maritime trade navigate through the area, including a large share of the world’s crude oil supplies. The region is also characterised by high biodiversity both in terms of species and ecosystems.
However, an increase in resource-extraction activities at sea has led to a corresponding rise in the rate of maritime crimes and sea traffic in the WIO. Most African countries, falling in the category of developing or least developed nation, lack the capacity to ensure the security of their declared maritime-zones. This has resulted in vast illegal capture and exploitation of marine resources, giving rise to a clamour for better maritime governance. Additionally, the high incidents of piracy off East African coast, in Gulf of Aden, has brought the issue of African maritime security to the world attention. India on its part is increasingly emphasising the need to increase maritime cooperation with WIO countries and African Island nations’ through offers of greater military aid, capacity building, and training assistance.
An ocean under threat
Most countries in the region have high population growth rates, and coastal development is expected to grow accordingly. The importance of ocean to the people of the region is immense, with over 60 million people inhabiting the coastal zones, and a quarter of these 60 million living within 100 kilometres of the shoreline.
The main drivers of growth in the WIO region countries’ rely on the extractive, construction, and service sectors including the tourism industry.
The natural assets of the WIO has been conservatively estimated at $333.8 billion. Fisheries represent the largest asset of the WIO region, estimated at $135 billion, or 40 percent of the total natural assets. The Annual ‘Gross Marine Product (GMP)’ of the region is at least $20.8 billion.
However, like in other parts of Africa, the WIO littorals are at a turning point where rapid economic development and population growth will considerably increase pressures on the ocean assets which provides a source of livelihood and prosperity.
At a time when the use of ocean resources to support growth is increasing, we see the depletion and degradation of primary ocean assets due to exploitation of the resources from the pressure of the sheer size of the population of the littorals.
The World Wildlife Fund reports (p. 27) that 35% of the fish stocks assessed in the WIO are fully exploited and 28% are over-exploited. “Kenya and Tanzania have lost about 18% of their mangroves over 25 years, and Mozambique lost 27% over a shorter timeframe.” Over 50% of the shark species assessed in the region are considered threatened. And 71-100% of the region’s coral reefs are at risk, with the exception of those in the Seychelles.
Through wise management, ocean assets can help lift countries out of poverty and achieve the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). However, unsustainable and unhealthy practices pose high threats to the ocean assets. Therefore, it is vital for countries in the WIO region to transform to economic practices that value and nurture the natural asset base of the WIO. The countries and its leaders need to demonstrate commitment on how to navigate towards a sustainable, inclusive blue economy.
The concept of Blue Economy was brought into the discourse with Gunter Pauli’s (2010) book, The Blue Economy 10 years, 100 innovations, 100 million jobs. It mainly includes economic and trade activities that integrate the conservation and sustainable use and management of biodiversity, including maritime ecosystems and genetic resources. As the ten WIO littorals attract attention from global economic powers for the coastal access they provide into African hinterland, it provides for a significant opportunity for bringing Blue Economy to the forefront.
Within Africa, the African Union’s Agenda 2063 lays special emphasis on the development of Blue Economy for the continent’s growth. Similarly, AU’s 2050 Africa Integrated Maritime Strategy (AIMS) seeks “to foster more wealth creation from Africa’s oceans, seas, and inland waterways by developing a thriving maritime economy and realising the full potential of sea-based activities in an environmentally sustainable manner.”
African national Blue Economy initiatives
Three WIO region countries (Mauritius, South Africa, and Seychelles) have initiated their own version of blue print to sustainably manage shared ocean assets. Mauritius is first African country to develop a roadmap for Blue Economy in 2013. The Maurice Ile Durable (MID) initiative, includes a participatory approach towards elaborating a national strategy towards sustainable development, by taking on-board the whole society in the implementation of the project. The initiative is based on five e-pillars; Economy and Employment, Energy, Environment, Education, and Equity.
South Africa’s blue economy model, labelled as ‘Operation Phakisa’ was launched in 2014 as a five-year long project. As a long-term goal, the project aims to move from coordinated sectoral environmental management to integrated environmental ocean management. Also, Seychelles on 31st January 2018, launched the Blue Economy Strategic Framework, which articulates Seychelles’ ‘Blue Economy Brand’ as a unique comparative advantage, based on its sustainability credentials. A vital component of this initiative is the ‘debt-for-adaptation-swap’ which seeks to forgive part of Seychelles’ national debt in exchange for strictly protecting 30% of the EEZ to support climate adaptation.
Pull factor drawing India closer to WIO region
From a geo-strategic and geo-economic point of view, the WIO holds immense value and provides numerous opportunities for countries in the region. The discovery of vast array of natural resources in seabed mining, deep-sea excavations, rare earth materials, oil plants, and large deposits of natural gas, in the WIO region’s ten countries has been a strong pull factor, drawing India and WIO countries in joint undertakings. Various Indian private players continues to invest in diverse along with increased cooperation in extractive resources sector.
For India, using multilateral engagement forums like IORA and IONS, to make the WIO region secure and socio-economically well-managed is vital in order to ensure that the India Ocean littorals are not exploited for their resources or for their geo-locational relevance in a matter prejudicial to India’s economic or security interests.
If India is serious about positioning Blue Economy as its central theme in its diplomatic outreach to the WIO region, it has to go beyond the rhetoric associated with summit announcements and media briefings.
Given India’s strong diplomatic, cultural, and kinship ties with East African nations, India can leverage its ambassadors in WIO countries to formulate a cooperative framework that outlines clear steps to reduce trade imbalances. India can apply innovative Blue Economy principles to provide ‘Triple A’ (appropriate, affordable, adaptable) technology in WIO in areas of water reuse, wastewater recycling, salt water to fresh water conversion, marine-based renewable energy production, including wave and tidal energy, and management of health of the ocean environment for nutrient rich food sources in a rapidly urbanising coastal scenario.
In terms of forging maritime partnerships with WIO region littorals, India has shown a strong commitment for proving security in its near maritime zones.
India’s engagement has expanded and diversified into a broad-based security approach, one which is supplemented by regular shipping visits, sharing of best practices to build capacity through training, transfer of naval hardware and logistical support, naval intelligence, joint military exercise and patrolling of EEZs, and development of listening posts and stations.
Blue Economy provides for significant opportunities for cooperation. African Union has declared it as the “frontline of Africa’s renaissance” and also PM Modi has referred to the Blue Chakra or Wheel in Indian National Flag as representing the potential of Blue economy. Subsequently, in the 2015 Delhi Declaration, both India and Africa reiterated their desire to cooperate on the development of Blue economy.
India can no longer afford to ignore the WIO region. The WIO region’s geographical proximity and its rich natural resources, provides India with a great opportunity to increase its maritime security cooperation with African countries. In future, India not only requires to assist Africa with hard capacity to undertake relevant security tasks, but also needs to play a vital role in the evolution of a comprehensive continental strategy which can improve the lives of African people by creating a model of sustainable maritime development.
The views expressed above belong to the author(s).
Can the Western Indian Ocean region be a game changer for India? | ORF
The Western Indian Ocean region’s geographical proximity and its rich natural resources, provides India with a great opportunity to increase its maritime security cooperation with African countries.
www.orfonline.org
More and more countries now share India’s vision for the region
I am delighted to be speaking here at Policy Exchange and am extremely appreciative of the effort that has been made to accommodate me in the midst of pandemic restrictions. In such challenging times we can rely only on true friends. At the Ministry of External Affairs in New Delhi and at the High Commission of India here in London, we count Policy Exchange as not just an institution of great intellectual weight but also a special friend. So thank you once again!Diplomats and public policy think tanks have an attribute in common – we are both in the business of persuasion. This is doubly appropriate in the context of my talk today, which is titled “India’s Vision of the Indo-Pacific”. I am conscious that Policy Exchange has put together an international commission on the Indo-Pacific. Led by Stephen Harper, the former Prime Minister of Canada, it comprises several policy practitioners and scholars, including two Indians. I am also given to understand that with Policy Exchange’s not-inconsiderable influence in this city, the commission’s report could feed into government thinking and shape the United Kingdom’s Indo-Pacific strategy.
As such, as you and the commission you have appointed attempt to guide British policy makers, through my speech I hope to explain to you India’s approach. To do so, I will focus on the where, why, how and which, and who of our Indo-Pacific vision. In other words:
i. Where do we geographically place the Indo-Pacific?
ii. Why do we see the region as so crucial to global prosperity and security and to India’s rise?
iii. How do we work in the region and which institutions and platforms do we find most convenient?
iv. Who are our key partners?
While an Indian maritime analyst is believed to have used the term as far back as the 1990s, “Indo-Pacific” is a fairly recent addition to the geopolitical lexicon. It has come into prominence in the past decade. India has used it in joint statements with a series of partner countries, including but not limited to the United States, Australia, France, Indonesia, Japan, and of course the United Kingdom. It figures in our meetings with our ASEAN friends and has helped advance the Quad consultations. That our Ministry has recently set up an Indo-Pacific Division as well as an Oceania Division, and placed them under the same Additional Secretary level officer, is a sign of India’s commitment to this critical geography.
Yet, India has not just mainstreamed the expression “Indo-Pacific”. More substantially, it has encouraged others to perceive and define the region in its full extent. For India, the Indo-Pacific is that vast maritime space stretching from the western coast of North America to the eastern shores of Africa. Today, more and more countries are aligning their definition of the Indo-Pacific with ours.
To understand India’s Indo-Pacific vision it is important to understand why we define it the way we do, and to the extent we do. During the Cold War, the Indo-Pacific was sliced and diced into different spheres of influence and military theatres, and made subservient to bloc think. To India, this made little sense. Whether it was the forces of nature – the monsoon winds for instance – or our maritime and trading history, we found it impossible to see the Horn of Africa and the western Indian Ocean on the one hand and the Straits of Malacca on the other as disconnected. For us, they have always been a seamless whole.
There are many reasons for this. The first and most obvious is the Indian peninsula, which thrusts into the Indian Ocean and gives us two magnificent coasts and near limitless maritime horizons to both our east and our west. Monks and merchants, culture and cargo have travelled from India on those waters, to our east, west and south.
India’s great religious traditions, such as Buddhism, spread far and wide in the Indo-Pacific. Some of the oldest and most impressive Hindu temples are found in Vietnam, remnants of the Cham kingdom. A thousand years ago India’s greatest coastal empire, the Cholas, sent maritime expeditions and trading ships as far east as Sumatra, to ancient China, as well as to the Abbasid empire in what is today Iraq. Another empire, the Pallavas, had a flourishing trade relationship with Southeast Asia. Sea-borne trade with Africa and with the Gulf states have been constants of Indian economic life. These experiences are our past and are our future; these experiences determine our concept of the Indo-Pacific. As a country with an intimate maritime history in the Indo-Pacific, the UK would surely appreciate this.
In the 21st century, the interconnectedness of the Indo-Pacific is finally coming into full play. A motivating factor is the region’s emergence as a driver of international trade and well-being. The Indo-Pacific ocean system carries an estimated 65 per cent of world trade and contributes 60 per cent of global GDP. Ninety per cent of India’s international trade travels on its waters. For us, and for many others, the shift in the economic trajectory from the Atlantic to the Indo-Pacific has been hugely consequential. The rise of China and the imperative for a global rebalancing have added to the mix. A rules-based international order is achievable only with a rules-based Indo-Pacific.
India’s Indo-Pacific strategy was enunciated by Prime Minister Narendra Modi in a speech in Singapore in 2018 as the SAGAR doctrine. In Sanskrit, among other Indian languages, the word “sagar” means ocean. The Prime Minister used it as an acronym for “Security and Growth for All in the Region”. This aspiration depends on securing end-to-end supply chains in the region; no disproportionate dependence on a single country; and ensuring prosperity for all stakeholder nations. An Indo-Pacific guided by norms and governed by rules, with freedom of navigation, open connectivity, and respect for the territorial integrity and sovereignty of all states, is an article of faith for India.
In 2019, at the East Asia Summit in Bangkok, Prime Minister Modi took the idea of SAGAR further and announced the Indo-Pacific Oceans’ Initiative. Using this Initiative, India plans to support the building of a rules-based regional architecture resting on seven pillars. These are:
– Maritime security
– Maritime ecology
– Maritime resources
– Capacity building and resource sharing
– Disaster risk reduction and management
– Science, technology and academic cooperation
– Trade connectivity and maritime transport
India has acted on these principles through both thematic and geographical initiatives. We have sought to strengthen security and freedom of navigation in the Indo-Pacific by becoming a net security provider – for instance in peacekeeping efforts or anti-piracy operations in the Gulf of Aden. Sharing what we can, in equipment, training and exercises, we have built relationships with partner countries across the region. In the past six years, India has provided coastal surveillance radar systems to half a dozen nations – Mauritius, Seychelles, Sri Lanka, Maldives, Myanmar and Bangladesh. All of these countries also use Indian patrol boats, as do Mozambique and Tanzania.
Defence training programmes have increased. Mobile training teams have been deputed to 11 countries – from Vietnam to South Africa, as well as Sri Lanka, Bangladesh and Myanmar in our immediate neighbourhood. Located just outside New Delhi, the Indian Navy’s Information Fusion Centre for the Indian Ocean Region has enhanced maritime domain awareness among partner countries.
In the area of humanitarian assistance and disaster relief (HADR), India has not only built robust capacities it has also established itself as an instinctive and unstinted early responder and a credible friend. Notable HADR missions in the Indo-Pacific in recent years have included Operation Rahat in Yemen in 2015 – when India rescued and evacuated 6,710 persons, including 1,947 citizens of over 40 other countries. Whether it was the cyclone in Sri Lanka in 2016, the earthquake in Indonesia in 2019, Cyclone Idai in Mozambique, or the flooding, landslides, deaths and large-scale displacement of people that occurred in Madagascar in January this year, Indian assistance and an Indian ship have never been far away.
The Coalition for Disaster Resilient Infrastructure (CDRI)), co-founded by India and the United Kingdom in 2019, is a corollary to such efforts. Along with the International Solar Alliance, another institution co-founded by India to evangelise renewable and specifically solar energy, CDRI is intrinsic to India’s regional and global commitment to taking on climate change.
As the Covid-19 pandemic hit us earlier this year, India did what it could to support its friends. Rapid response medical teams were sent to countries as far apart as Kuwait and the Maldives, and on their request. Through the lockdown, food supply lines were kept alive for the Gulf nations as well as for smaller island states such as Mauritius, Seychelles, Madagascar and Comoros.
India has also promoted and contributed to infrastructure, connectivity, economic projects and supply chains in the region, always prioritising the needs of the host community and the ethic of equity, environmental sustainability and social viability. I would go to the extent of suggesting that we have pioneered progressive thinking on such issues. Reading Germany’s recently-released “Policy Guidelines for the Indo-Pacific Region”, I was struck by the prescription that, “When developing connectivity, it is important to facilitate fair competition, to avoid over-indebtedness on the part of the recipient countries and to ensure transparency and sustainability.” These are exactly the principles India has been upholding and I am glad others are sharing our prism.
We must not forget that many countries of the Indo-Pacific have suffered a history of colonialism, some of the wrinkles of which are still with us and still need to be ironed out. While doing so, and while moving ahead purposefully, we need to be mindful not to embrace constructs that themselves create dependencies and skewed arrangements. These concerns are particularly relevant as the Indo-Pacific region puts its mind to supply chains resilience and diversification in the post-coronavirus period. India is a party to several such conversations. For example it is working with its Japanese and Australian friends on the Supply Chains Resilience Initiative.
India’s Indo-Pacific geography can perhaps be best described as a succession of semi-circles. The innermost semi-circle incorporates our closest neighbours. These are South Asian countries that share with us the waters of the Indian Ocean, that have shared our civilisational and cultural heritage, and that, by way of proximity, inevitably share our joys and our sorrows. The arc of the outer neighbourhood covers the Gulf states to our west and Southeast Asia and the ASEAN countries to our east. In a sense, this too is a rediscovery of old maritime associations, but contemporary business and trade, energy and investment flows, and labour and skills mobility have added new dimensions. Economic currents in the United Arab Emirates or Singapore, for instance, are carefully monitored by millions of families in India.
Moving further, India has created partnerships and mechanisms with countries the opportunities, concerns and stakes of which intersect with ours. This is a broad sweep, from the Pacific Islands to the archipelagos of the western Indian Ocean and off the eastern coast of Africa. Networks such as Quad, with India, the United States, Japan and Australia as participants, and the India-Japan-US, India-France-Australia and India-Indonesia-Australia trilateral arrangements offer cases in point.
Military and HADR exercises, whether bilateral or multi-country, open avenues. So does cooperation on the protection of global marine commons as well as on issues such as illegal, unregulated and unreported fishing – very damaging to the ocean’s ecology. The Mauritius oil spill of August 2020 saw India and France responding together to assist local authorities.
While such networks, coordination mechanisms and complementarities have their utility, the centrality of ASEAN resonates with India’s idea of the Indo-Pacific. By virtue of its location, its longevity and its social and economic attainments, ASEAN has emerged as a platform where various interests can meet, interact and rationalise differences. These qualities are not to be discounted, and it should be our collective endeavour to preserve them. However, it must also be acknowledged that institution formation in the Indo-Pacific is still at an incipient stage. It took the shock of two World Wars in a generation for the Atlantic consensus to be formalised and institutionalised. It is possible that the after-effects of the pandemic, the biggest disruption to the global system since World War II, could nurture similar approaches in the Indo-Pacific.
Whatever the navigation map, the fact that the Indo-Pacific is the 21st century’s locus of political and security concerns and competition, of growth and development, and of technology incubation and innovation is indisputable. That is why a country like Germany, physically distant but an economic stakeholder in the Indo-Pacific, has released a strategy for the region. After France and the Netherlands, it is the third European country to do so. In India, we have noted with some satisfaction that our policy outlook has much in common with these documents.
The UK, we hope and expect, will be next on the list, and too will finalise its Indo-Pacific strategy soon. Given this country’s characteristic wisdom and prodigious institutional memory, we hope too that the UK’s strategy will approximate India’s own and long-standing Indo-Pacific vision.
More and more countries now share India’s vision for the region
In the 21st century, the interconnectedness of the Indo-Pacific is finally coming into full play. A motivating factor is the region’s emergence as a driver of international trade and well-being.
indianexpress.com
News - Indian Foreign Policy : News, Discussions, Updates & Analysis
Economic Times (@EconomicTimes) Tweeted: #India is cutting down exports of military equipment and dual-use items like explosives and detonators to #Turkey, given its growing defence ties with #Pakistan India cuts defence exports to Turkey over Pakistan nexus ()
India took several foreign policy leaps this year, expect 2018 to be like 2017
When the Asean festival is over - 10 heads of state and government will be our chief guests for Republic Day - we may find that 2018 is more of 2017. That may not be a bad thing. Three big developments stood out in India's foreign policy that will continue their trajectory in 2018. The China...
@Gautam @Ashwin
Please merge the similar subject threads into one dedicated thread. Thank you.
News - Indian Foreign Policy : News, Discussions, Updates & Analysis
Economic Times (@EconomicTimes) Tweeted: #India is cutting down exports of military equipment and dual-use items like explosives and detonators to #Turkey, given its growing defence ties with #Pakistan India cuts defence exports to Turkey over Pakistan nexus ()www.strategicfront.org
India took several foreign policy leaps this year, expect 2018 to be like 2017
When the Asean festival is over - 10 heads of state and government will be our chief guests for Republic Day - we may find that 2018 is more of 2017. That may not be a bad thing. Three big developments stood out in India's foreign policy that will continue their trajectory in 2018. The China...
@Gautam @Ashwin
Please merge the similar subject threads into one dedicated thread. Thank you.
Done. Threads have been merged. Thank you for reporting.
India's National Security Advisor and Maldives Defence Minister to visit Sri Lanka on Friday
(MENAFN - NewsIn.Asia) Colombo, November 26 (Daily Mirror) - India's National Security Advisor, Ajit Doval and Maldives Defence Minister, Mariya Didi will arrive in the country on Friday to hold bilateral discussions with President Gotabaya Rajapaksa and Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa, the Daily Mirror learns.The visit by the Indian National Security Advisor and Maldives Defence Minister is the highest visits to be undertaken by officials of those countries since the new Rajapaksa government was sworn into power in August after winning the Parliamentary election.
Several topics of mutual interest will be discussed when the visiting officials meet the President and Prime Minister for discussions, including possible defence agreements, senior sources said. Within the past two months, Sri Lanka has welcomed high ranking officials from China, USA and now India and Maldives. (Jamila Husain)
India's National Security Advisor and Maldives Defence Minister to visit Sri Lanka on Friday
Colombo, November 26 (Daily Mirror) - India's National Security Advisor, Ajit Doval and Maldives Defence Minister, Mariya Didi will arrive in the cou
menafn.com
Reimagining Diplomacy in the Post-COVID World: An Indian Perspective
Despite its many benefits, the world has also seen strong reactions to globalization. Much of that arises from unequal benefits, between and within societies.
www.newsweek.com
PM Modi to inaugurate the virtual Maritime India Summit, around 40 partner countries expected to participate
Chennai: Prime Minister Narendra Modi is all set to inaugurate the virtual Maritime India Summit (MIS) to be conducted from March 2 to 4. The Summit to be conducted by the Union ministry of ports, shipping and waterways will see the participation of around one lakh delegates from 40 countries.Chennai Port Trust chairman P Raveendran, giving details of the summit, said it will showcase abundant opportunities in the maritime sector in India and provide an excellent forum for exchanging ideas.
Maritime states of India will participate in the summit through dedicated sessions, a TOI report said.
An important session in the summit will be an exclusive ‘CEOs’ forum and there will various thematic sessions. Raveendran said policy planners, domestic and international investors, experts, stakeholders, and representatives of ports would participate in the summit. Registration is free.
There are opportunities in several sectors such as the development of world-class ports, modernisation and development of new berths/terminals in existing ports, connectivity projects, coastal shipping, cruise tourism, maritime education and training, shipbuilding and ship repair, shipbreaking, and development of smart port industrial cities, opportunities exist in all sectors.
On February 11, a parliamentary panel had said that the Ministry of External Affairs should make efforts to enhance international cooperation on maritime piracy and ensure the welfare of Indian seafarers captured by pirates.
The panel also said it would also like to "reiterate their recommendation made in the 16th report on the Piracy Bill 2012, and desire that MEA should make sincere efforts to enhance international cooperation on maritime piracy and by taking adequate and proactive measures to ensure the welfare of Indian seafarers captured by pirates simultaneously", a PTI report suggested.
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