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  • Entry

    By Invitations Only
  • Dates

    03-04 Sep 2019
  • Location

    Maldives
  • Speakers

    Professionals & Political

About the Conference

The 4th Indian Ocean Conference – IOC 2019 was organised by India Foundation in association with the Government of Maldives and S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies, Singapore on 03-04 September 2019 in Maldives. The theme of IOC 2019 was “Securing the Indian Ocean Region: Traditional and Non-Traditional Challenges”.

The traditional and non-traditional security challenges facing the Indian Ocean Region remain unabated. Geopolitics and Trade continue to be contentious and the spectre of terrorism looms large over several countries of the region. Issues such as rising sea water levels, hazardous levels of pollution of the seas leading to depletion of marine livestock, and illegal, unreported and unregulated (IUU) fishing elude consensus in international deliberation. Many of these challenges pose serious and immediate problems for the region. These challenges require concerted and sustained partnership efforts across the region and beyond.

Discussions at the 4th IOC were focused on developing effective regional institutional mechanisms for implementation of prevailing norms and rules. In continuation with the past, this edition of the Conference too provided an opportunity for stakeholders of the Indian Ocean Region to deliberate on building an institutional framework for managing the threats to regional peace and human security through the strengthening of multilateral cooperation based on mutual respect, equality and international law.

The three broad themes of the conference were:
MARINE ECOLOGY: Climate Change, Global Warming and consequent Rise of Sea Levels, Pollution, Sustainable harnessing of Oceanic Resources

TERRORISM: Rising Spectre of Terrorism in Indian Ocean Region, Marine Terrorism

NAVIGATIONAL SECURITY: Freedom of Navigation, UNCLOS and its effective implementation, Natural and Man-made hazards to Navigation, Piracy

Speakers

Organising Committee

Photos

Videos - 2019

Publication

EVENT SCHEDULE

  14:00 - 15:00 Hrs

Symposium 1: Navigational Security

MC: Lalitha Kumaramangalam, Director, India Foundation
Chair: Alok Bansal, Director, India Foundation

Speakers:
1. Sanjaya Baru, Distinguished Fellow, Institute for Defence Studies and Analysis, India
2. Anup Singh, Former C-inC, Eastern Naval Command, Indian Navy
3. Phil Midland, Former Naval Officer, USA
4. J B Vowell, Deputy Director, Planning and Policy, Indo-Pacific Command, USA
  14:00 - 15:00 Hrs

Symposium 2: Terrorism

MC: Vijayalakshmi Vijayakumar, Director, India Foundation
Chair: S. D. Muni, Professor Emeritus, School of International Studies Jawaharlal Nehru University, India

Speakers:
1. Prabha Rao, Executive Director, South Asian Institute for Strategic Affairs (SAISA), India
2. Jayantha Perera, Admiral, I M F and Former Commander of the Sri Lankan Navy
3. Syed Ata Hasnain, Former GOC, 15 and 21 Corps, Indian Army
4. Klaus Lange, Director, Institute of Transnational Studies, Germany
  15:15 - 16:15 Hrs

Symposium 3: Navigational Security

MC: Sunaina Singh, Vice Chancellor, Nalanda University
Chair: C Raja Mohan, Director, Institute of South Asian Studies (ISAS), Singapore

Speakers:
1. Preeti Saran, Former Secretary (East), Ministry of External Affairs, India
2. Nisha Biswal, President, US India Business Council, USA
3. Yan Yan, Director, Research Center of Oceans Law and Policy, National Institute for the South China Sea Studies, China
4. Sinderpal Singh, Senior Fellow and Coordinator of the South Asia Programme, Institute of Defence and Security Studies, RSIS, Singapore

Symposium 4: Ambassadors’ Panel

MC: Dhruv Katoch, Director, India Foundation
Chair: Rajiv Sikri, Former Ambassador, India

Speakers:
1. Shin Bong-kil, Ambassador of South Korea to India
2. Rita Giuliana Mannella, Ambassador of Italy to Sri Lanka
3. Vicente Vivencio T. Bandillo, Ambassador of Philippines to Bangladesh
4. Southam Sakonniyom, Former Ambassador of Lao PDR to India
  16:45 - 18:00 Hrs

Inaugural Session

MC: Shekhar Sinha, Former C-in-C, Westen Naval Command, Indian Navy

Speakers:
1. H.E. Ibrahim Mohamed Solih, President, Maldives
2. H.E. Ranil Wickremesinghe, Prime Minister, Sri Lanka
3. S. Jaishankar, External Affairs Minister, India
4. Vivian Balakrishnan, Minister for Foreign Affairs, Singapore
5. Abdulla Shahid, Foreign Minister, Maldives
  18:15 - 19:00 Hrs

Keynote Session I

MC: Alok Bansal, Director, India Foundation

Speakers:
1. S. Jaishankar, External Affairs Minister, India
2. Abdulla Shahid, Foreign Minister, Maldives
  19:00 - 20:30 Hrs

Session I

MC: Shaurya Doval, Member, Board of Governors, India Foundation

Speakers:
1. Macsuzy Mondon, Designated Minister, Seychelles
2. Nandcoomar Bodha, Minister of Foreign Affairs, Regional Integration and International Trade, Mauritius
3. Tandi Dorji, Minister for Foreign Affairs, Royal Government of Bhutan
4. Pradeep Kumar Gyawali, Minister for Foreign Affairs, Nepal
5. Ahmad Ali Al Sayegh, Minister for Economic Cooperation in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, UAE
6. Joaquim Jose Gusmao dos Reis Martines, Minister of Agriculture and Fisheries, Timor Leste


20:30 Hrs onwards - Dinner to be hosted by President of Maldives
  09:30 - 10:15 Hrs

Keynote Session II

MC: Dhruv Katoch, Director, India Foundation
Chair: M J Akbar, Member of Parliament, India

Speaker:
Mohamed Nasheed, Speaker, Peoples’ Majlis, Maldives
  10:30 - 11:45 Hrs

Session II

Chair: Ram Madhav, National General Secretary, Bharatiya Janata Party; Member, Board of Governors, India Foundation

Speakers:
10:30 – 10:45 Hrs: Sayyid Badr bin Hamad Albusaidi, Secretary General, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Oman
10:45 – 11:00 Hrs: Shahriar Alam, Minister of State for Foreign Affairs, Bangladesh
11:00 – 11:15 Hrs: Chhiv Yiseang, Secretary of State, Ministry of Foreign Affairs & International Cooperation, Kingdom of Cambodia
  11:45 – 13:00 Hrs

Session III

Chair: Ram Madhav, National General Secretary, Bharatiya Janata Party; Member, Board of Governors, India Foundation

Speakers:
11:45 – 12:00 Hrs: Kyaw Myo, Deputy Minister of the Ministry of Transport and Communications, Myanmar
12:00 – 12:15 Hrs: Toshiko Abe, State Minister of Foreign Affairs, Japan
12:15 – 12:30 Hrs: Ronny Prasetyo Yuliantoro, Deputy Minister for Foreign Affairs and Special Advisor to the Foreign Minister on Inter-Institutional Relations, Indonesia

13:00 -14:00 Hrs - Lunch
  14:00 - 15:00 Hrs:

Session IV

Chair: Shakti Sinha, Director, Nehru Memorial Museum and Library, India

Speakers:
14:00 – 14:15 Hrs: Harry Harris, US Ambassador to South Korea and Former Commander, US Pacific Command, USA
14:15 – 14:30 Hrs: Yuri Materiy, Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary Ambassador to the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka and The Maldives Republic, Russia
14:30 – 14:45 Hrs: Wei Hongtian, Ambassador of Department of Boundary and Ocean Affairs, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, China
  15:00-16:00 Hrs

Session V

Chair: Shakti Sinha, Director, Nehru Memorial Museum and Library, India

Speakers:
15:00 – 15:15 Hrs: Pornpimol Kanchanalak, Adviser to Foreign Minister, Kingdom of Thailand
15:15 – 15:30 Hrs: M Shahidul Islam, Secretary General, BIMSTEC Secretariat, Bangladesh
15:30 – 15:45 Hrs: Richard Maude, Deputy Secretary, Indo-Pacific Group, Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade, Australia
15:45 – 16:00 Hrs: Nguyen Van Thao, Assistant to Deputy Prime Minister, Director General of the Department of Economic Affairs, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Vietnam

16:00 - 16:30: High Tea
  16:30-17:30 Hrs

Session VI

Chair: Shekhar Sinha, Former Commander-in-Chief, Western Naval Command, Indian Navy

Speakers:
16:30 – 16:45 Hrs: Ratsimandao Tahirimiakadaza, Secretary General, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Madagascar
16:45 – 17:00 Hrs: Michael Kiboino, Director, Oceans and Security, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Kenya
17:00 – 17:15 Hrs: Abdallah Mirghane, Director of the Foreign Minister's Cabinet, Comoros
  17:30 - 18:30 Hrs

Session VII

Chair: Shekhar Sinha, Former Commander-in-Chief, Western Naval Command, Indian Navy

Speakers:
17:30 – 17:45 Hrs: Edward Ahlgren, OBE, Royal Navy, UK
17:45 – 18:00 Hrs: Abdulla Shamaal, Chief of Defence Force, Maldives
18:00 – 18:15 Hrs: Mahesh Singh, Flag Officer Karwar/ Karnataka, Indian Navy

Quotes

IOC 2024 Live Streaming