Amid concerns over piracy and terrorism, India expects the first summit of the Indian Ocean Rim Association (IORA) to come up with concrete ideas on ensuring peace and prosperity in the region.
Amid concerns over piracy and terrorism, India expects the first summit of the Indian Ocean Rim Association (IORA) to come up with concrete ideas on ensuring peace and prosperity in the region.
Vice President Hamid Ansari, who is on a visit to the Indonesian capital Jakarta to attend the summit tomorrow, said there is a need to keep the maritime region, shared by 36 countries, free from piracy and terrorism, which are global phenomena and can pose a threat anywhere in the world.
Interacting with a group of journalists accompanying him on his two-day visit, Ansari said safety and security of the Indian Ocean maritime region, trade and investment, management of fisheries, tourism, disaster management and science and technology are some of the subjects which have been under consideration.
He said the blue economy has also emerged as a focus area on which India has taken a lot of initiatives.
"We expect that concrete ideas will emerge (from the Summit)...We hope there will be some outcomes," said the Vice President, who will be addressing the meet of the 21-nation body tomorrow.
Though the Indian Ocean is being shared by 36 nations, 21 countries have joined the Association so far.
"The most important thing is that for the (Indian Ocean) Rim countries to be able to cooperate with each other, they need safety and security. As you know, we have had in the western part of the Indian Ocean serious problems of piracy and terrorism," he said.
"Not only that, we will move on to the blue economy which has huge potential but has barely been touched upon," Ansari said.
On the seriousness of the piracy threat, he said, "for the moment it has been contained as far as Northern Arabian Sea region is concerned, thanks to very good international cooperation. But these are things which you have to guard against because terrorism is an international phenomena and it surfaces in different parts of the world." At the summit, a declaration on countering violent extremism is expected to be adopted along with the IORA Concord and an action plan.
The Declaration on Preventing and Countering Terrorism and Violent Extremism is an agreement of the IORA member states about the importance of countering terrorism. MORE
(This article has not been edited by DNA's editorial team and is auto-generated from an agency feed.)
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