Indian Ocean Commission (IOC) and its significance for India GS: 2 "EMPOWER IAS"

In news:

• Recently, India got an observer status at IOC (Indian Ocean Commission)

 

About Indian Ocean Commission (IOC)

• It is an intergovernmental organization created in 1982.
• It was institutionalized in 1984 by the Victoria Agreementin Seychelles. 
• The COI is composed of five African Indian Ocean nations: Comoros, Madagascar, Mauritius, Réunion (an overseas region of France), and Seychelles. 
• COI’s principal mission is to strengthen the ties of friendship between the countries and to be a platform of solidarity for the entire population of the African Indian Ocean region.
• The Commission has a Secretariat which is located in Mauritius and headed by a Secretary General. 
• The Commission has four observers — China, EU, Malta and International Organisation of La Francophonie (OIF). 

 

 

Objectives:

• Political and diplomatic cooperation,
• Economic and commercial cooperation
• Sustainable development in a globalisation context, cooperation in the field of agriculture, maritime fishing, and the conservation of resources and ecosystems
• Strengthening of the regional cultural identity, cooperation in cultural, scientific, technical, educational and judicial fields.

 

 India as a observer in the IOC

• India was recently accepted as an observer in the Indian Ocean Commision, getting a seat at the table of the organization that handles maritime governance in the western Indian Ocean.
• India’s entry is a consequence of its deepening strategic partnership with France as well as its expanding ties with the Vanilla Islands.

 

Significance of an Observer Status of India

1. Engagement with the Western Indian Ocean:

• • It will facilitate collective engagement with the islands in the Western Indian Ocean that are becoming strategically significant.
  • Given China’s growing presence in the region, India will be able to increase its naval presence and gain support for its maritime projects across the Indo-Pacific.
  • The Western Indian Ocean (WIO) is also a strategic location of the Indian Ocean linking the Southeastern coast of Africa to the wider Indian Ocean and beyond.

 

2. Opportunity in the Mozambique Channel:

• The IOC islands are situated around one of the key chokepoints in the Indian Ocean- the Mozambique Channel.
• The Mozambique Channel is an arm of the Indian Ocean located between the African countries of Madagascar and Mozambique.
• The Mozambique Channel lost its significance post the opening of the Suez Canal, but the recent hostilities near the Strait of Hormuz brought the channel back into focus as the original route for bigger commercial vessels (especially for oil tankers).
  • Potential of natural gas reserves in the Mozambique Channel further increases the significance of the region.

 

3. Cooperation with France:

• It will also help to boost cooperation with France that has a strong presence in the western Indian ocean.

 

4. SAGAR Policy:

• It will help to extend India's SAGAR (Security and Growth for all in the Region) policy in the region.
• SAGAR is an articulation of India’s vision for the Indian Ocean which aims for enhancement of capacities to safeguard land and maritime territories & interests; deepening economic and security cooperation in the littoral; action to deal with natural disasters and maritime threats like piracy, terrorism.

 

Maritime security by IOC and India’s interests

• More recently, the IOC has demonstrated leadership in the maritime security domain.
• Since maritime security is a prominent feature of India’s relations with Indian Ocean littoral states, India’s interest in the IOC should be understood in this context.
• However, India has preferred to engage bilaterally with smaller states in the region.
• The IOC is a cluster of small states which do not seek a ‘big brother’ partnership.
• The IOC has its own regional agenda.
• The IOC has made impressive headway in the design and implementation of regional maritime security architecture in the Western Indian Ocean.

 

MASE program and RMIFC to help maritime security

• What is MASE program? The European Union-funded programme to promote Maritime Security in Eastern and Southern Africa and the Indian Ocean.
• In 2012, the IOC was one of the four regional organisations to launch the MASE Programme
• Under MASE, the IOC has established a mechanism for surveillance and control of the Western Indian Ocean with two regional centres.
• RMIFC: The Regional Maritime Information Fusion Center (RMIFC), based in Madagascar, is designed to deepen maritime domain awareness by monitoring maritime activities and promoting information sharing and exchange.
• The Regional Coordination Operations Centre (RCOC), based in Seychelles, will eventually facilitate joint or jointly coordinated interventions at sea based on information gathered through the RMIFC.
• These centres are a response to the limitations that the states in the region face in policing and patrolling their often enormous Exclusive Economic Zones (EEZs).
• They deliver an urgently needed deterrent against unabating maritime crime at sea.
• Which was only partly addressed by the high-level counter-piracy presence of naval forces from the EU, the Combined Maritime Forces, and Independent Forces.
• Seven states in the region have signed agreements to participate in this multilateral maritime security architecture, and once ratified, will provide its legal foundation.
• Many major powers have expressed interest in accessing the RMIFC.

 

What India can learn from IOC?

• The IOC’s achievements offer an opportunity for India to learn, and also to support.
• The IOC style of ‘bottom-up regionalism’ has produced a sub-regional view and definition of maritime security problems and local ownership of pathways towards workable solutions.
• A 2019 policy brief published by the IOC ‘Strengthening Maritime Security in the Western Indian Ocean’, sets out how the counter-piracy response off the coast of Somalia delivered unprecedented regional and international cooperation in the domain of maritime security.
• However, it resulted in multiple players, the duplication of actions, and regional dependence on international navies.
• The IOC has been seeking more sustainable ways of addressing maritime security threats in the region, with the RMIFC and RCOC as part of this response.
• Its regional maritime security architecture is viewed locally as the most effective and sustainable framework to improve maritime control and surveillance and allow littoral States to shape their own destiny.
• Moreover, with proper regional coordination, local successes at curbing maritime threats will have broader security dividends for the Indian Ocean space.

 

How India can contribute?

• Nearly all littoral states in the Western Indian Ocean need assistance in developing their maritime domain awareness and in building capacity to patrol their EEZs.
• All would benefit from national information fusion centres that can link to those of the wider region.
• With its observer status, India will be called upon to- 1. Extend its expertise to the region. 2. Put its satellite imagery to the service of the RMIFC. 3. Establish links with its own Information Fusion Centre.
• As a major stakeholder in the Indian Ocean with maritime security high on the agenda, India will continue to pursue its interests and tackle maritime security challenges at the macro level in the region.
• However, as an observer of the IOC, a specific, parallel opportunity to embrace bottom-up regionalism presents itself.