WHY IN THE NEWS?
The 21st Indian Ocean Rim Association (IORA) Annual Council of Minister’s (COM) Meeting was held in Dhaka.
About:
- India took part in the conference in virtual mode.
- India was led by Minister of State External Affairs (MoS), Dr Rajkumar Ranjan Singh.
- IORA COM was held in a hybrid format in Dhaka.
- At the end of this meeting, Dhaka Communique was adopted.
India’s affirmation at the summit
- While addressing the summit, the MoS reaffirmed India’s strong commitment to strengthening IORA, which is the largest and pre-eminent organization in the Indian Ocean Region (IOR).
- India also reaffirmed the commitment to promote peace, security and prosperity in IOR, as well as in the wider Indo-Pacific.
- Minister also noted the contributions made by India as coordinator of the IORA priority areas of Disaster Risk Management (DRM).
- While addressing the “Strategic Dialogue on “Impact of COVID-19 and perspectives of economic recovery in IOR” MoS highlighted India’s assistance as the first responder to several countries in Indo-Pacific during the Covid-19 pandemic.
Steps were taken by India to strengthen IORA
In order to strengthen IORA, India undertook several initiatives during 2021:
- Assistance to the IORA Secretariat,
- Capacity building workshops in areas including Yoga, traditional medicines to Remote sensing.
- UNCLOS and Ocean Data Management
- Discussions on various issues under IORA.
Indian Ocean Rim Association (IORA)
IORA is an international organisation comprising of 23 states surrounding the Indian Ocean. It is a regional forum, tripartite in nature, to bring together representatives of Government, Academia and Business in order to promote co-operation and closer interaction among them. The Coordinating Secretariat of IORA is at Ebene, Mauritius.