Chair:             Amb. Riva Ganguly Das, Former Secretary (East), Ministry of External Affairs, Government of India

Speakers:        Vice Admiral SN Ghormade, Former Vice Chief, Indian Navy & Secretary General, Colombo Security Conclave (CSC) on “Strengthening Regional Institutions: Colombo Security Conclave”

Prof. Sanjay Chaturvedi, (IORA), Professor & Dean, Faculty of International Studies (FIS), South Asian University on                                                           “Indian Ocean Regionalism at a Crossroads: IORA, Interregnum, and the Anthropocene”

Dr. Athaulla Ahmed Rasheed, Head of Centre for Security and Strategic Studies, Maldives National University on “Role of Small States in Shaping Indian Ocean Regional Institutions: Framing Maldives’ Security Narratives”

Ms. Bineswaree Aruna Bolaky, Economic Affairs Officer, UN Economic Commission for Africa on “Linking MAHASAGAR to Africa:  India’s role in the implementation of the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) Agreement”

Dr. Loitongbam Bishwanjit Singh, Assistant Professor, Department of South East Asian Studies, Manipur University on “Relooking BIMSTEC: Optimising Advantages and Dealing with the Disadvantages”

The sixth session discussed on the issue of “Strengthening Regional Institutions”. The session was chaired by Amb. Riva Ganguly Das, Former Secretary (East), Ministry of External Affairs, Government of India. The chair thanked the MP-IDSA for organising this conference and welcomed the presenters of this session. She introduced the theme of the session and said that the topic on the strengthening of regional institutions in the Indian Ocean region is an interesting issue, particularly in the backdrop of the great power rivalry, weaponisation of trade and the changing geopolitical situation in the region. According to Amb. Das, MAHASAGAR is an idea to promote regionalism and inclusive development for the countries of the region.

Vice Admiral SN Ghormade, Former Vice Chief, Indian Navy & Secretary General, Colombo Security Conclave (CSC) spoke on “Strengthening Regional Institutions: Colombo Security Conclave”.

• Vice Admiral Ghormade began his presentation by outlining the significance of the Indian Ocean region. India Ocean is no longer merely a conduit of trade but has emerged as an arena of geopolitical rivalry, economic fragmentation, piracy, international terrorism, climate change, human security and cyber security.
• Vice Admiral Ghormade argued for the need to combine various regional institutions, such as IORA, IONS, BIMSTEC, and the CSC in the Indian Ocean region. This would create a synergy and integration among the different institutions would be beneficial to meet the challenges posed by complex geopolitical situation in the region.
• He asserted that the major goals of the Colombo Security Conclave (CSC) is to provide  maritime safety and security, strengthen the strategy to counter terrorist activities, prevent radicalisation, combat human trafficking and transnational organised crime, increase cyber security and create mechanisms to protect critical infrastructure and technology. CSC also aims to provide humanitarian support and protection against natural disasters.
• A coherent strategy by linking the regional maritime institutions would develop mutual confidence and create more opportunities for the coming generations. Therefore, the integration of various institutions would be beneficial for the nations in the region.

Prof. Sanjay Chaturvedi, (IORA), Professor & Dean, Faculty of International Studies (FIS), South Asian University spoke on “Indian Ocean Regionalism at a Crossroads: IORA, Interregnum, and the Anthropocene”.

• Prof. Sanjay Chaturvedi focussed his presentation on the Indian Ocean Rim Association (IORA), which according to him is the only “pan-Indian Ocean” institution to promote regional connectivity and could play a significant role in the backdrop of the changing geopolitical situation in the world. The countries of the Indian Ocean region also needs to respond to the regional challenges.
• While “Indo-Pacific” represents a strategic geography, Indian Ocean has a political, economic and cultural geography.
• IORA emerged as a regional organisation in the post-Cold War period and aimed to deepen economic cooperation among the nations in the region with a guiding principle for “open regionalism”.
• In the due course, the IORA has evolved into several other domains, such as to increase cooperation in the provision of maritime security, disaster management, blue economy, and promote more inclusive and sustainable development in the region.
• The emerging geopolitics, geo-economics and big power rivalry in the Indo-Pacific region and challenges posed by the climate change have increased the need for regional cooperation and has enhanced the importance of IORA.

Dr. Athaulla Ahmed Rasheed, Head of Centre for Security and Strategic Studies, Maldives National University spoke on “Role of Small States in Shaping Indian Ocean Regional Institutions: Framing Maldives’ Security Narratives”.

• Dr. Rasheed spoke on the importance and role of the small states in building various institutions with regards to the economic, political and security in South Asia and the Indian Ocean region.
• In his presentation, he particularly focused on the role of Maldives in institution building in the region and its participation in the regional institutions like the IORA and the Colombo Security Conclave.
• The recent shifts in the regional security dynamics in the Indian Ocean region and the new regional initiatives by New Delhi and Beijing have increased the importance of the small states like Maldives.
• Maldives has been adjusting to the new security challenges in the region and has been pursuing a more “development-oriented security” strategy which would be helpful for the regional security.
• Dr. Rasheed asserted in his presentation that the “vulnerabilities can increase the bargaining power of the states”, and particularly, smaller states like Maldives could exercise meaningful agency in the Indian Ocean region.

Ms. Bineswaree Aruna Bolaky, Economic Affairs Officer, UN Economic Commission for Africa spoke on “Linking MAHASAGAR to Africa:  India’s role in the implementation of the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) Agreement”.

• Ms. Bolaky’s presentation focussed on the linking of the Indian initiative of MAHASAGAR (Mutual and Holistic Advancement for Security and Growth Across Regions) with Africa. The MAHSAGAR is a strategy to develop maritime connections, particularly with regards to the countries of the Global South.
• In this regard, India could play a pivotal role in increasing trade, peace, security, and sustainable development in the Indian Ocean region and other parts of the world.
• On the other hand, the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) Agreement is a notable strategy of some African nations to deepen the intraregional trade and economic development in the continent, particularly in the eastern and southern Africa.
• Ms. Bolaky asserted that there was a need to construct linkages between the MAHASAGAR and AfCFTA, which would be helpful in building infrastructure facilities and strengthen trade in the entire Indian Ocean region. In this regard, MAHASAGAR can positively contribute to the implementation of the AfCFTA.

Dr. Loitongbam Bishwanjit Singh, Assistant Professor, Department of South East Asian Studies, Manipur University spoke on “Relooking BIMSTEC: Optimising Advantages and Dealing with the Disadvantages”.

• The presentation by Dr. Singh provided an insight into the BIMSTEC as a regional institution which aims to enhance regional trade, increase investment and development. This connectivity project has the potential to promote regional growth and could be a crucial maritime institution for the region.
• Geo-economics is the key variable in shaping the geopolitical situation in the Bay of Bengal region and BIMSTEC has emerged as an alternative to SAARC. But the weakness of the institutional framework and delays in the implementation of the policies have been hurdles in developing connectivity projects in the region.
• Mistrust among the participating nations, territorial disputes, and China’s “Belt and Road Initiative” have also been the major challenges for the success of the BIMSTEC as a regional organisation.
• There is a need to undertake reform measures to deepen cooperation among the member states of the BIMSTEC and promote regional integration. Sustainable peace is embedded in the creation of more economic opportunities.

Q&A Session

During the Q&A session, participants raised a range of queries related to the perspectives presented by the presenters. Question was raised to the entire panel regarding the relevance of SAARC as a regional organisation in the midst of other regional institutions like BIMSTEC, IORA and CSC. Prof. Sanjay Chaturvedi was asked about the purpose of India launching the MAHASAGAR initiative when New Delhi was already a part of the IORA. Also he was inquired as to how the landlocked states like Nepal and Afghanistan can become part of the MAHASAGAR initiative. Vice Admiral SN Ghormade was asked about the interoperability issue between the members of the CSC. A question was raised to Ms. Bineswaree Aruna Bolaky on the seriousness of the African countries in the success of the AfCFTA. Dr. Athaulla Ahmed Rasheed was asked a question on the issue of the Chagos Archipelago.

Key Takeaways

• The papers presented in this session highlighted the significance of the regional institutions in developing cooperation and promote sustainable development in the Indian Ocean region.
• The papers also called for the need to link various regional institutions for enhancing trade, peace and security, developing infrastructure facilities and counter newly emerging threats and challenges.
• The papers highlighted the role of the smaller states in the regional development and in the emerging geopolitical situation in the Indian Ocean region.
• The newly emerging non-traditional threats such as climate change, radicalisation, terrorism, natural disasters have also increased the need for more cooperation among the nations in the Indian Ocean region.

This report was prepared by Dr Ranjit Kumar Dhawan, Associate Fellow in the East Asia Centre at the Manohar Parrikar Institute for Defence Studies and Analyses (MP-IDSA).