Indian Ocean Rim Association discusses ways to achieve larger cooperation

News:The 19th Indian Ocean Rim Association COM (Council of Ministers) meeting was held in Abu Dhabi, UAE on November 7,2019.

Facts:

About the meeting:

• The meeting was chaired by UAE.The Chairmanship passes from the Republic of South Africa that held the chair between the period 2017-19.
• The theme of the conference was “Promoting a shared destiny and path to prosperity in Indian Ocean”.
• India is the largest contributor to IORA Special Fund.Recently,India has contributed 1 million USD to the fund.
• Further,India has also hosted the first Indian Ocean Dialogue in 2015.It was held at Kochi,Kerala and Kochi Consensus was released.
• The Kochi consensus focused on maritime security challenges, information sharing, cooperation in disaster relief and economic cooperation.

Additional information:

About IORA:

• The Indian Ocean Rim Association is an inter-governmental organisation which was established in 1997.
• The aim of IORA is to strengthen regional cooperation and sustainable development within the Indian Ocean Region.
• The Association comprises of 22 member states and 9 dialogue partners with Indian Ocean Tourism Organisation and the Indian Ocean Research Group having observer status.
• The Coordinating Secretariat of IORA is located at Ebene,Mauritius.

Member States:

• The members of IORA are India, Australia, Iran, Indonesia, Thailand, Malaysia, South Africa, Mozambique, Kenya, Sri Lanka, Tanzania, Bangladesh, Singapore, Mauritius, Madagascar, UAE, Yemen, Seychelles, Somalia, Comoros, Maldives and Oman.

Objectives:The objectives of IORA are as follows:

• To promote sustainable growth and balanced development of the region and member states
• To focus on those areas of economic cooperation which provide maximum opportunities for development, shared interest and mutual benefits
• To promote liberalisation, remove impediments and lower barriers towards a freer and enhanced flow of goods, services, investment, and technology within the Indian Ocean rim.