By IANS
New Delhi : Prime Minister Manmohan Singh will on Thursday inaugurate an international maritime symposium that is being seen as an attempt by this country to play a proactive role in the Indian Ocean Region (IOR) that stretches in a broad swathe from South Africa to Australia.
Twenty-nine nations have confirmed their participation in the Indian Ocean Naval Symposium (IONS) that will be conducted in two parts – a two-day seminar here followed by a two-day conclave in Goa of the naval chiefs of the participating countries.
There is, however, a question mark on the level at which countries like Pakistan and Iran will be represented.
“We have received indications that both countries will be represented by their envoys or by their defence attaches here,” an Indian Navy officer involved in organising the event said.
“In that case, they will be able to participate in the seminar but not in the conclave, as this is meant only for the navy chiefs of the countries that are attending,” the officer told IANS, speaking on condition of anonymity, given the sensitivity of the subject.
What this also means is that Pakistan and Iran will not be counted as founder members of IONS, which will be formally launched Thursday and which is intended to be a biennial event.
According to the assistant chief of India’s naval staff, Rear Admiral Pradeep Chauhan, IONS is a “non-hegemonistic, cooperative consultative gathering. But, analysts said, there is clearly a military element to it to counter efforts by the US and China to gain a permanent foothold in the region.
Not surprisingly, these two countries have not been invited for the IONS’s inaugural meeting.
“They are not littoral states of the Indian Ocean,” Chauhan pointed out.
The Indian political establishment has given IONS its full backing. Apart from Manmohan Singh, Defence Minister A.K. Antony and External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee will also address the delegates.
Ahead of IONS, middle to junior level officers of 11 East and Southeast Asian nations, as also Australia and New Zealand, had gathered at Port Blair in the Andaman and Nicobar Islands for the Milan-08 exercise Jan 18-23.
According to Chauhan, the two events were significant “in view of the increasing maritime trade passing through the Indian Ocean and the Strait of Malacca in particular and the need to safeguard these sea lanes from poaching and terrorist activities’.
IONS draws inspiration from the US-backed Western Pacific Naval Symposium that engages Southeast and East Asian countries to leave an “engagement” deficiency in the Indian Ocean, particularly in the western Indian Ocean.
“Because of this deficiency, certain external players are rapidly forging new maritime security relationships. IONS would promote greater mutual interaction and understanding and obviate the dependency on extra regional players in the region,” Chauhan stated.
The symposium will enable Indian Ocean nations address their problems without external assistance, he added.
As Indian Navy chief Admiral Sureesh Mehta has explained: “Many navies of the Indian Ocean Region look to India to promote regional maritime security. It is thus prudent that India launches an inclusive forum (like IONS) for discussing and taking forward issues of common interest.”