Navigating post-war maritime security in West Asia will be high on the agenda as India chairs the 23-nation Indian Ocean Association (IORA), with a leaders’ summit expected next year, the organization’s secretary-general Sanjiv Ranjan said.
In addition to raising the profile of IORA, the government is expected to focus on specific challenges arising from the war in West Asia, including violence in the region and the Iranian-US blockade of the Strait of Hormuz.
Last week, Mr. Ranjan co-hosted the Indian Ocean Dialogue in Delhi, which was attended by ministers from India, Mauritius and Yemen, in addition to representatives from Iran and the United Arab Emirates. Speaking to The Hindu, he said that while bilateral differences are not being discussed in the grouping, the Gulf War has raised issues of “primary importance” for the IOR countries.
“From the current situation, we are increasingly aware that maritime safety and security is of paramount importance to our energy security, our food security (and) the many livelihoods that are the result of developments in the Indian Ocean littoral,” he said, referring to all countries with Indian Ocean coastlines, from the east coast of Africa to Australia.
Mauritian Foreign Minister Dhananjay Ramful, in a keynote speech at the two-day dialogue, said the “ideal of the Indian Ocean as a zone of peace” had been denied because “war has come to the ocean”. Mr Ramful described the US sinking of the Iranian naval ship IRIS Dena in March, which killed 100 sailors, as “outrageous” and also expressed concern about Iran’s retaliatory missile attacks using intermediate-range ballistic missiles (IRBMs) on the US base Diego Garcia on the Mauritian island of Chagos.
“They may not have achieved their goal, but they have still violated our comfortable status quo. They have introduced a hitherto unknown intent of aggression into our Indian Ocean region,” Mr. Ramful added.
According to the IORA charter, “bilateral and other issues likely to generate controversy and hinder regional cooperation efforts will be excluded from negotiations.” But they will discuss the “socio-economic” impact of the conflict in talks on eight priority areas: maritime safety and security, trade and investment, fisheries management, disaster risk management, tourism, cultural exchanges, blue economy and women’s economic empowerment, Mr Ranjan said.
“Without a doubt, any disruption in the Indian Ocean will have a profound impact on the economy across the region. The tourism sector is hit hard, particularly due to airline outages. Fuel prices have risen significantly in many of our member countries; some have had to close offices and schools. In the long term, inflation, agricultural production and productivity – affected by fertilizer shortages – will all hurt the region. Where there is a big war on fish, they can’t worry about) fishing will affect livelihood,” Mr. Ranjan told The Hindu.
The 2027 IORA summit will celebrate the organization’s 30th anniversary, Mr. Ranjan said, adding that the last time such a summit was held was in 2017, when Indonesia celebrated IORA’s 20th anniversary in Jakarta. Before that, India will host a meeting of senior officials in June this year, while the IORA Council of Ministers will meet in late 2026.
The Indian Ocean Dialogue, a ‘track 1.5’ conference for officials, academics and practitioners, co-hosted by IORA and the Ministry of External Affairs and organized by the Indian Council on World Affairs (ICWA), kicked off a series of meetings expected in the coming year as India seeks to recharge IORA. The group was founded in 1997 with former South African leader Nelson Mandela among its leaders. However, in three decades, IORA has not gained the prominence of other regional groupings such as the now defunct SAARC, BIMSTEC, SCO or the Quad. Apart from its prominent position in India’s MAHASAGAR naval policy and Indo-Pacific strategy, the IORA is less contentious for India as Pakistan has never been admitted to its ranks, although the IORA charter opens membership to all “sovereign states of the Indian Ocean Rim”. Pakistan applied for membership in the early 2000s, but its refusal to grant India “MFN status” for trade violated the IORA charter, which calls for “sovereign equality” or equal treatment of all states, according to officials.
The Indian Ocean Rim Association (IORA) currently comprises 23 member states, including Australia, Bangladesh, Comoros, France, India, Indonesia, Iran, Kenya, Madagascar, Malaysia, Maldives, Mauritius, Mozambique, Oman, Seychelles, Singapore, Somalia, South Africa, Sri Lanka, Tanzania, Thailand, United Arab Emirates and Yemen.
In addition, the association supports 12 dialogue partners, including China, Egypt, the European Union, Germany, Italy, Japan, Russia, Saudi Arabia, South Korea, Turkey, the United Kingdom, and the United States of America.
Published – 11 May 2026 0:06 IST
