By IANS
New Delhi : Piracy on the high seas has declined considerably since India ratified a regional agreement 18 months ago.
This was pointed out in talks between Brig. Gen. Tay Lim Heng, chairman of the Regional Cooperation Agreement on Combating Piracy and Armed Robbery against ships in Asia (ReCAAP), and Vice Admiral Rusi Contractor, director general of the Indian Coast Guard and vice chairman of ReCAAP, here Wednesday.
Tay is leading a four-member ReCAAP delegation on a visit to India to discuss steps to enhance cooperation and force building against piracy and other sea-borne crimes.
India acceded to ReCAAP on June 6, 2006. The agreement aims at enhancing cooperation amongst its 16 member countries, including most Asean members, China, Japan, South Korea, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka.
It enables the maritime forces to seize ships or aircraft involved in piracy and armed robbery besides information sharing, capacity building and cooperation for extradition and mutual legal assistance, a defence ministry statement Wednesday said.
Among the Asean countries, only Malaysia and Indonesia are yet to ratify the treaty. ReCAAP achieved a distinction when it concluded an agreement with the International Maritime Organisation last December.
During his stay in New Delhi, Tay also held discussions with P.K. Rastogi, special secretary in the defence ministry. The ReCAAP delegation will visit the Maritime Rescue Coordination Centre (MRCC), which is also the Piracy Reporting Centre in India, and participate in a tabletop exercise on piracy control during its visit to Mumbai.
The Coast Guard is India’s nodal agency for ReCAAP. The role of the Indian Coast Guard had been widely hailed when it successfully tackled a piracy incident on the MV Alondra Rainbow in 1999.