The Pathfinder Foundation, held a meeting of the International Advisory Group (IAG) last week, as a prelude to its Indian Ocean Security Conference (PF-IOSC) scheduled for 2020.
This track 1.5 event, sponsored by Japan, was attended by representatives of prominent governmental and non-governmental research institutions from Australia, China, France, India, Japan, Norway, Russia, Singapore, Sri Lanka, the United Kingdom and the United States of America. Colombo based diplomatic missions representing the participating countries attended the meeting, some at Ambassadorial and others senior diplomatic level in addition to the Pathfinder team.
The main purpose of the 2020 PF-IOSC conference is to address multifaceted traditional and non-traditional security issues impacting on the Indian Ocean. The Conference will be a track 1.5 event participated by countries in the Indian Ocean region and major maritime users of the Indian Ocean, and will address two broad areas viz. (i) Maritime Security and (ii) Maritime Governance.
The objective of the IAG meeting was to review the unfolding geo-strategic significance of the Indian Ocean and assess regional security cooperation demands in the Bay of Bengal Region in preparation for the 2020 conference.
The meeting focused on four broad areas viz. (i) Traditional maritime security threats posed by state and non- state actors including militarization of the Indian Ocean Region by acts such as terrorism, piracy and armed robbery, smuggling and trafficking, illegal migration & influx of refugees, irregular and illegal fisheries etc., and Non-traditional maritime security threats such as issues related to climate change, degradation of marine environment due to heavy pollution, negative impact of exploitation of ocean resource, both living and non-living and possible solutions at regional and extra-regional levels, (ii) Maritime governance issues involving the Indian Ocean: Law of the Sea, Rules based maritime order, need for a maritime security architecture/regime and role of international and regional associations such as IORA, IONS, Galle Dialogue, BIMSTEC, SAARC, WPNS, ASEAN, (iii) Free and Open Indo-Pacific Vision: Implications and Challenges, and (iv) Maritime Infrastructure Development Projects & their impact on the Indian Ocean Region, Challenges and Opportunities.
Former Indian National Security Advisor, Foreign Secretary and High Commissioner to Sri Lanka, Ambassador Shivshankar Menon chaired International Expert Group meeting. Chairman of Pathfinder Foundation, Bernard Goonetilleke and Ambassador Akira Sugiyama of Japan delivered opening addresses, which set the tone for follow-up deliberations.
Scholars from participating countries presented their observations and expressed views and concerns. Productive and in-depth discussions were carried out at the end of each session. Open and free discussions were encouraged to create a conducive environment to address existing mistrust and rivalry among the regional and extra-regional states.
Impact on security in the Indian Ocean arising from climate change, Ocean pollution, global warming and transnational maritime crime etc. were discussed at length.
The meeting concluded by identifying some key areas of focus for the conduct of of the 2020 conference. These main areas were (i) Traditional Security Issues, (ii) Non-traditional Security Issues, (iii) Opportunities for maritime development and (iv) Maritime Governance Issues.
The meeting also recommended to include scholars from the African continent in the deliberations, particularly from East Africa, communities affected by marine environment pollution, regional and international organizations dealing with ocean related matters and youth. They also highlighted the need for gender balance at the conference and recommended bottoms up approach through bi-lateral and multi-lateral arrangements.
The meeting also highlighted the need to come up with issue based responses. It further urged the support of countries in the IOR and particularly major maritime users who are actively engaged in naval activities in the IOR for making the 2020 conference a success.
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