New Delhi: India will lay emphasis on connectivity, open maritime trade and rights of navigation during the summit of the 21-nation Indian Ocean Rim Association (Iora) to be held in Jakarta on Tuesday, where vice-president Hamid Ansari will represent the country.
Mr Ansari, who will embark on the two-day visit of the Indonesian capital on Monday, is also expected to pitch for cooperation among the think tanks of the member countries to evolve common strategies to meet the conventional and non-conventional threats, sources said, according to news agency PTI. The theme of the summit is “Strengthening Maritime Cooperation for a Peaceful, Stable and Prosperous Indian Ocean”.
China is locked in a dispute with some of the southeast Asian countries over maritime rights of water in southeast Asia while India and the US have been focusing on the right to navigation in international waters.
At the meeting, a declaration on countering violent extremism is expected to be adopted along with the Iora Concord and an action plan. “The Iora Concord is a strategic document that sets the ways and means to strengthen the regional architecture in the Indian Ocean Rim and elevate Iora as a regional cooperation,” an official statement from the Iora secretariat was quoted by news agencies, as stating. The Iora is a regional forum that aims at facilitating and promoting economic co-operation, bringing together, inter-alia, the representatives of the Member States’ governments, businesses and academia.
The association comprises India, Australia, Bangladesh, Comoros, Indonesia, Iran, Kenya, Madagascar, Malaysia, Mauritius, Mozambique, Oman, Seychelles, Singapore, Somalia, South Africa, Sri Lanka, Tanzania, Thailand, the United Arab Emirates and Yemen. It also has seven Dialogue Partners — the US, China, Egypt, France, Germany, Japan and the UK.
