Indian Navy chief offers to run warship training hub for regional states
Indian Navy Chief Admiral Hari Kumar has proposed deepening relations among Indian Ocean States (IOR) by adopting four principles that would define future relations.
Hari Kumar made his proposals on Tuesday while addressing the Goa Maritime Conclave (GMC), one of the Navy’s many multilateral initiatives aimed at bringing together the IOR’s littoral states into a cooperative maritime security framework operating under barely discernible leadership of the Indian Navy.
The Navy chief’s first suggestion concerns developing an operating mechanism that is “light in structure, but functionally heavy.” He suggested this be based on Common Maritime Priorities (CMPs), such as maritime law, information, strategy and protocols, or training and capacity building.
“We are ready to take the lead in developing the training and capacity building pillar,” Kumar said, citing Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Maritime Vision of Security and Growth for All in the Region (SAGAR).
The second suggestion was that “each of us could bring certain unique capabilities and expertise to the table,” Kumar said. He pointed to possible skills in maritime law, combating maritime narcotics trafficking, maritime surveillance or environmental management.
“In addition to developing and operationalizing the mitigation framework to tackle CMPs, this would also lay the foundation for the establishment of regional Centers of Excellence (CoE),” the Navy chief suggested.
The third, interrelated proposal concerns the development of CoEs as nerve centers for maritime security information related to the IOR. As an example, the Navy chief cited the establishment of the Information Fusion Center for the Indian Ocean Region (IFC-IOR) in Gurgaon. This underlines India’s status as the guardian of the Indian Ocean – a ‘net security provider’ bringing together regional countries to protect the global commons and freedom of navigation and provide security against challenges such as piracy, terrorism, arms smuggling, narcotics and human migration. and illegal fishing.
The Navy Chief’s fourth and final suggestion was to rationalize and prioritize efforts under other bilateral, minilateral and multilateral arrangements in the IOR. Besides deploying warships on visits to ports and naval bases of other countries and joint training exercises, the Indian Navy has promoted maritime bonding through various multilateral initiatives such as the Goa Maritime Conclave, MILAN, the Indian Ocean Naval Symposium (IONS), the Among others the Indian Ocean Rim Association (IORA) and the Colombo Security Conclave.
Since its inauguration in 2008, the ION has grown in size to 25 members and nine observers.
To bring together like-minded maritime nations from South and Southeast Asia, the Indian Navy began hosting the Goa Maritime Conclave.
This year, ministers and navy chiefs from twelve IOR countries attended, including Bangladesh, Comoros, Indonesia, Madagascar, Malaysia, Maldives, Mauritius, Myanmar, Seychelles, Singapore, Sri Lanka and Thailand.
MILAN has been another successful initiative by the Indian Navy to promote engagement at the regional level. It is held biannually in Port Blair.
For monitoring maritime activities, the Information Fusion Center (IFC) in Gurugram has established itself as a hub in the IOR, through white shipping exchange agreements with 22 countries and one multinational construct. International liaison officers from 14 countries have been invited to join the centre.