A three-day conference, titled ‘India and the Indian Ocean: International Conference on Renewing the Maritime Trade and Civilisational Linkages’ began in Bhubaneswar, the capital of Orissa, India on Friday.
Indian External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj inaugurated the conference on strengthening maritime trade and security among Indian Ocean Rim countries.
Ministers, bureaucrats and more than a dozen ambassadors in the Indian Ocean Rim Association (IORA), including Bangladesh Foreign Secretary M Shahidul Haque, are taking part in the conference to discuss strategic challenges in the region.
Participants also from Australia, India, South Africa, Sri Lanka, the Maldives, Thailand, Mauritius, Indonesia, Malaysia, Kenya, Tanzania, Mozambique, Myanmar, Madagascar, Singapore, Yemen, Oman, Iran and Cambodia are attending the conference.
The IORA is a regional forum consisting of coastal States bordering the Indian Ocean, including Bangladesh.
The objective of the conference is to draw a resolution outlining India’s role, including trade ties and strategic challenges, in the Indian Ocean region.
Beijing’s announcement to have a ‘Maritime Silk Road’ in 2013 has “kind of pushed” the organisers to host a conference involving multiple stake-holders, reports The Hindu.
The Institute of Social and Cultural Studies jointly with Research and Information System for Developing Countries is hosting the conference.
