SP Guide Publications (SP’s). The Indian Ocean Region (IOR) has emerged as a hotbed of piracy, hijacking on the high seas, acts of terror, arms pedalling and drug trafficking, etc. Has any framework for co-operative engagement been formalised by the regional navies, so as to jointly combat such threats?

Chief of the Naval Staff (CNS). It is regrettable but true that the Indian Ocean littoral is beset by a number of security-related challenges that include, inter alia, the sea-borne trafficking of drugs, arms, and human beings; robbery, armed robbery, hijacking, and other forms of maritime crime; marine pollution, poaching, piracy, terrorism, etc. As if all these were not challenges enough, the region is also the locus of 70% of the world’s natural disasters. Today, I think it would be fair to state that every navy and sate-run maritime-security agency of the IOR understands quite clearly that these common challenges can only be met through common response-mechanisms. Consequently, in February 2008, driven by the need to address regional vulnerabilities by capitalising upon regional strengths, the Chiefs-of-Navy of very nearly all littoral states of the IOR gathered in New Delhi, both in ‘assembly’ and in ‘conclave’, to launch the Twenty First Century’s first significant international maritime-security initiative namely, the Indian Ocean Naval Symposium, or ‘IONS’. That the launch of so important a regional initiative was able to meet with such wide acceptance across the length and breadth of the Indian Ocean was in itself a unique phenomenon but one representative of a region that has come into its own and is ready to evolve a broad consensus in facing the myriad security challenges that face it within the maritime domain. ‘IONS’ seeks to provide a regional forum through which the ‘Chiefs-of-Navy’ of all the littoral states of the IOR can periodically meet to constructively engage one another through the creation and promotion of regionally relevant mechanisms, events, and activities. I believe that the IONS movement constitutes the keys to freeing us from the many challenges that face us in the maritime domain. My fellow Chiefs-of-Navy and I think that we have begun our work well, and, with the support of like-minded navies, we are confident that we will be able to bring about a future that is free from petty rivalries, so as to be better able to successfully meet the many common security-challenges that confront all of us in the maritime reaches of our region.

SP’s.  In the beginning of 2008, the Indian Navy (IN) had embarked upon a highly successful initiative, IONS on “Contemporary Transnational Challenges : International Maritime Connectivities”, can you please comment on the significant gains and follow-on frameworks of IONS?

CNS. The formal launch of the ‘IONS’ initiative was effected through two sessions of the ‘Conclave-of-Chiefs’, the first held in New Delhi on February 15, and the second in Goa, on February 16, 08. As had been the intention, it was at this ‘Conclave-of-Chiefs’, removed from the glare of the media, that the most meaningful progress occurred. That the launch of so important a regional initiative was able to meet with such wide acceptance across the length and breadth of the Indian Ocean was in itself a unique phenomenon. Comfortably interacting amongst their peers, the Chief-of-Navy ratified the four ‘Objectives’ of the movement.

Recognising the enormous diversities of our region, we ourselves had identified a few Measures of Effectiveness to gauge our success. The first was whether we would enjoy sufficient political support. Our Prime Minister’s presence stood testimony to this. The second was whether Chiefs-of-Navy would, indeed, come. The fact that of the 31 invited, as many as 27 Chiefs came, speaks for itself. In one case that of the Republic of Comoros, it took a civil war to eventually preclude his attendance! The third was whether they would agree to the activities defined in the draft Charter. This too, was achieved and the Chiefs agreed to abide by the draft Charter even while the document was processed in each navy’s own governmental hierarchy. Having incorporated the many suggestions made by various countries and our own MEA, we have reached what we believe to be the final form of the Charter of Business. The fourth was whether the navies would agree to a concrete set of confidence-building activities over the first two years. This they have and the initial ‘baby-steps’ include ship-visits and port-calls incorporating short-duration shipboard-attachments, training, and, first-line maintenance-assistance in accordance with a consensual and regionally-coordinated calendar; afloat-attachments for young officers; two ‘IONS Open Essay Competitions’, the first topic being “Sustaining the IONS Initiative : Practical Steps”, and the second, “Cooperative EEZ Surveillance : Options and Initiatives”; two ‘Workshops for Young Officers’, one each on the themes, “Building interoperability in HADR(Humanitarian Assistance and Disaster Relief) Scenarios : Practical Mechanisms and Processes”, and, “Regionally relevant and affordable Force Protection Measures”; one Technical Workshop on the theme, “Synergising Medical Capabilities aboard Ships in HADR Scenarios within the IOR”; and, finally, the ‘IONS Preparatory Workshop’, which will define the agenda for the “Indian Ocean Naval Symposium 2010”. The last issue was whether after we had completed our two-year period of chairmanship, we would have volunteers to host future editions of the ‘IONS Initiative’. In the course of the inaugural Conclave-of-Chiefs, it had been agreed that the chairmanship should be rotated sequentially through the four littoral sub-regions of the IOR i.e. the ‘South Asian Littoral’, the ‘West Asian Littoral’, the ‘East African Littoral’, and, the ‘South-East Asian & Australian Littoral’ so that the somewhat different priorities given even to common challenges, and, of course, such maritime-security challenges as are unique to a given sub-region, could all be given the emphasis and attention that they deserve. The next chairman will, in all probability, be from the West-Asian littoral. A number of navies of that sub-region have expressed requisite keenness and we expect one of them to make a firm commitment in the very near future. In 2012, the chairmanship would thereafter rotate to the East African Littoral and in 2014, to the ‘South-East Asian & Australian Littoral’.