Indian navy to create regional forum to achieve stability in Indian Ocean, representatives from 29 countries to meet at Delhi seminar in Feb
Indian navy to create regional forum to achieve stability in Indian Ocean, representatives from 29 countries to meet at Delhi seminar in FebNEW DELHI: The Indian navy is pitching in with its own efforts to create a regional forum of navies with direct interest in the Indian Ocean Region, as global powers flex their muscles in the strategic waters.
Ruling out any hegemonic efforts, the navy said the forum will have ‘cooperative engagement’ as its central theme, and will work towards “achieving security, safety and stability in the Indian Ocean Region”.
Noticeably, the forum will comprise only those countries that have direct presence in the Indian Ocean, keeping out both the United States and China, as well as other powers like the Britain who are not littoral states.
Chiefs of Navy, or heads of maritime agencies, of 29 countries would attend the inaugural Indian Ocean Naval Symposium 2008, (IONS) at Vigyan Bhavan in New Delhi on February 14 and 15. They will spend the next two days in Goa, brainstorming on the shape of the proposed forum.
“Contemporary trans-national challenges - international maritime connectivities,” would be the theme of the seminar in Delhi, which would be the vehicle for the overall launch
of the initiative. Prime minister Manmohan Singh will inaugurate the seminar.
Except for Pakistan and Bahrain, all the other invitees have accepted the invitation.
The seminar and forum will look at increasing “maritime cooperation” in the Indian Ocean Region and provide a forum to discuss “maritime issues, both global and regional,” said rear admiral Pradeep Chauhan, assistant chief of naval staff (foreign cooperation and intelligence).
He drew parallels between the IONS and the Western Pacific Naval Symposium, a Cold War era initiative by the US.
The chiefs will discuss the charter of the forum, its membership regulations, and the way forward. The Indian navy has already defined certain fundamental principles: all decisions to be taken on consensus and to keep out controversial issues especially those dealing with bilateral issues.
The objectives of the IONS, according to the navy, would be to “strengthen the capability of all littoral nation-states of the Indian Ocean to address present and anticipated challenges to maritime security and stability,” and to establish and promote “a variety of trans-national, maritime, cooperative-mechanisms designed to mitigate
maritime security-concerns amongst nation-states of the Indian Ocean”.
According the proposal, the IONS will have a ‘symposium’ among navy chiefs every two years and workshops at working levels every year.
The group will also hold multilateral exercises at sea.
j_joseph@dnaindia.net 
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