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:

1. Assistance to the IORA Secretariat,
2. Capacity building workshops in areas including Yoga, traditional medicines to Remote sensing.
3. UNCLOS and Ocean Data Management
4. 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.