Indian Ocean Dialogue adopts ‘Padang Consensus’ for enhancing cooperation
The third Indian Ocean Dialogue among the member states of the Indian Ocean Rim Association (IORA) has ended at Padang in Indonesia with a consensus to enhance the cooperation further.
The two-day dialogue culminated on Thursday with adoption of the ‘Padang Consensus’ that contained “some recommendations” to be considered by relevant IORA meeting, the Secretariat of the 18 countries grouping says.
Padang is the capital of the province of West Sumatra in Indonesia where the ‘track 1.5’ dialogue was held, in which both government officials, experts, think-tanks, and civil society convened together.
It was themed on “Addressing Maritime Security Challenges in the Indian Ocean through Enhanced Regionalism”.
The Indonesian foreign ministry and think-tank the Habibie Centre jointly organised the dialogue with the support of the IORA Secretariat in conjunction with naval exercises and strategic seminars hosted by the Indonesian Navy.
Strengthening rules-based regionalism in the Indian Ocean; piracy and armed robbery; illicit trafficking and maritime terrorism; regional cooperation in combating IUU fishing; role of naval powers in enhancing security in the Indian Ocean and energy security in the Indian Ocean were the topics of discussions.
In the consensus, they stressed on the need to define regionalism based on IORA interests, and to bridge the gap in capacity among coastal states in the Indian Ocean to tackle non-traditional security threats.
They also stressed on the need to develop the Blue Economy approach which will be beneficial for all IORA Member States.
They also laid importance on the confidence-building measures as a way of cultivating trust among regional navies so they could work “more effectively” together to maintain maritime security in the region.
Besides, they suggested IORA to formulate common approaches to secure and conserve energy resources for future generations.
Head of the Policy Analysis and Development Agency ad Interim of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Indonesia Salman Alfarisi said the outcome of the Dialogue would “deepen” the understanding of challenges confronting all the IORA Member States.
Director of IORA Secretariat Firdaus Dahlan, representing the Secretary General, pointed out that the Dialogue would contribute in strengthening regional linkages and addressing Maritime Security Challenges in the Indian Ocean through multilateral cooperation.
