The Indian Ocean Region (IOR), spanning in excess of seven million square kilometres of water-expanse, home to twenty sovereign entities, reposing significant endowments of strategic natural resources, inhabiting a verdant constellation of tremendous ecological and human diversity, and dovetailing resplendent cultural and civilizational traditions, is arguably a pivotal harbinger to regional and global peace, stability and welfare, but equally, a potential lodestar, offering a new template for maritime concert, cooperation and management, and societally-beneficent harness, of the vast blue economy.

The Indian Ocean Conference 2016 was endeavoured to convene critical states and principal maritime partners in the Indian Ocean Region to cogitate and deliberate on myriad issues impinging on region-wide national security and national development, through the tri-prism of Geo-Strategic, Geo-Economic and the Geo-Cultural, rendering maritime affairs to not merely be a realm of concern for national security planners and the strategic establishment, but to connect with the broad swathe of popular opinion, discourse, consciousness and imagination, across IOR communities and societies. The Conference’s envisioned outreach was to the diplomatic core, industry and entrepreneurs, the media, the student community, as also to the fraternity of religious, spiritual and civilizational thought-leaders, bringing in refreshing perspectives on the syncretic strengths of religions, cultures and civilizational antecedence, weaving mutual affinities between India and the ASEAN community.