Indian Ocean Rim nations meet today

The conference of Indian Ocean Rim Association for Regional Cooperation (IOR-ARC) will be held in Bangalore on Wednesday.  India is all set to assume the chair of the IOR-ARC for a period of two years in Bangalore.

The conference will be held from November 9 to November 15. The Conference of Ministers (COM), which will be held on November 15, would review the administrative arrangement for the IOR-ARC Special Fund. It would also discuss the strategies to combat sea piracy and enhance maritime security in the Indian Ocean Rim Region.

PS Raghavan, additional secretary, ministry of external affairs, said this would be the 11th COM meeting of the IOR-ARC since it was established in Mauritius in 1997. The IOR-ARC is aimed at promoting economic and technical cooperation, including expansion of trade, maritime security, energy security, and investment among member countries.

It has membership of 18 nations—Australia, Bangladesh, Indonesia, India, Iran, Kenya, Madagascar, Malaysia, Mauritius, Mozambique, Oman, Singapore, South Africa, Sri Lanka, Tanzania, Thailand, the UAE, and Yemen.

India is the founder-member of IOR-ARC. Foreign ministers or other senior cabinet ministers of Australia, Bangladesh, Kenya, Sri Lanka, Mauritius, Tanzania and Yemen are expected to participate in the meeting.

The COM meeting would be preceded by the meetings of Indian Ocean Rim Business Forum (IORBF) on November 9, Indian Ocean RIM Working Group on Trade and Investment on November 10, Indian Ocean Rim Academic Group (November 11) and the Committee of Senior Officials (CSO) on November 12.