By IRNA
New Delhi : India’s Prime Minister, Manmohan Singh Thursday said that there is a need for a greater cooperation between the navies of the littoral states of the Indian Ocean for preventing transnational crimes and maintaining the biological diversity of the seabed in the region.
“Recent years have seen a rise in crimes such as terrorism, smuggling, including narcotics, arms and weapons, piracy, and robbery.
These activities not only pose a threat to our growing naval commerce but also affect innocent fishermen and tourists,” said Indian Prime Minister, inaugurating the Indian Ocean Naval Symposium “IONS Seminar-2008” in New Delhi Thursday.
Spanning 28 million square kilometers, the Indian Ocean is host to a third of the world’s population.
The littoral states of the Indian Ocean account for 25 per cent of the global landmass and 40 per cent of the world’s energy sources.
They have a rich heritage and share close socio-cultural ties.
Above all, they are linked by a history of sea faring.
A significant share of international trade passes through the sea-lanes of the region.
Regrettably the Indian Ocean also accounts for 70 per cent of the world’s natural disasters.
Indian Ocean littoral States have witnessed rapid economic growth in recent years.
These high levels of growth are translating into increased intra-regional trade and global trade, a significant portion of which is sea borne.
The sea-lanes of the region have thus emerged as one of the most important lines of communication in the world.
Container handling at the ports of Colombo, Mumbai, Chittagong, Bangkok and Malaysia’s Port Klang are registering double-digit growth rates.
A growing percentage of the world’s large merchant ships and bulk carrier ships fly an Asian flag.
This expansion in trade and economic growth dictates the need to ensure the safety and security of the sea-lanes.
Organised by the Indian Navy, the Indian Ocean Naval Symposium is four-day event that will see a participation of navies of 29 countries from the Indian Ocean region.
IONS is aimed at evolving joint strategy to face maritime threat in the strategically significant region.