Banner
Workflow

Indian Ocean Naval Symposium

Contact Counsellor

Indian Ocean Naval Symposium

  • The 7th edition of the Indian Ocean Naval Symposium (IONS) Conclave of Chiefs is being hosted by the French Navy in Paris from 15 – 16 Nov 21.
  • The inaugural edition of IONS was held in Feb 2008 at New Delhi, with the Indian Navy as the Chair for two years.
  • The IONS Chair is presently held in France.

Indian Ocean Naval Symposium

  • The IONS is a voluntary and inclusive initiative that brings together navies of Indian Ocean Region (IOR) littoral states to increase maritime co-operation and enhance regional security.
  • It also serves to develop an effective response mechanism and humanitarian assistance and disaster relief (HADR) against natural disasters.
  • The chairmanship of IONS has been held by India (2008-10), UAE (2010-12), South Africa (2012-14), Australia (2014-16), Bangladesh (2016-18) and Islamic Republic of Iran (2018-21).
  • France assumed the Chairmanship in June 2021 for a two-year tenure.

Members

  • IONS includes 24 member nations that touch or lie within the IOR, and 8 observer nations.
  • The members have been geographically grouped into the following four sub-regions:
  1. South Asian Littorals: Bangladesh, India, Maldives, Pakistan, Seychelles, Sri Lanka and United Kingdom (British Indian Ocean Territory)
  2. West Asian Littorals: Iran, Oman, Saudi Arabia and United Arab Emirates
  3. East African Littorals: France (Reunion), Kenya, Mauritius, Mozambique, South Africa, and Tanzania.
  4. South East Asian and Australian Littorals: Australia, Indonesia, Malaysia, Myanmar, Singapore, Thailand and Timor-Leste.

Significance For India

  • IONS fits into India’s three-fold ambitions in the region:
  1. Strengthening and deepening the relations with the Indian Ocean littoral states,
  2. Establishing its leadership potential and aspirations of being a net-security provider, and
  3. Fulfilling India’s vision of a rules-based and stable maritime order in the IOR.
  • It will help India to consolidate its sphere of influence from the Straits of Malacca to Hormuz.
  • IONS can be used to counterbalance the increasing presence of China in the region.

Categories