In the Indian Ocean rim, only three countries have blue water capability — India, Australia and South Africa. While the other two are at the eastern and western edges of the Indian Ocean, India in the middle dominates the sea lanes of communication across the ocean in both directions. This gives India a pivotal position in addressing issues of maritime security in this region. With the operational radius of our navy extending from the Gulf to the Malacca Straits, we have the requisite capacity to back up our aspiration to play an enhanced naval role in the Indian Ocean in pursuit of the common interests of the rim countries.

It is with this in mind that on February 14-15, the National Maritime Foundation, in coordination with the Indian navy, organized the Indian Ocean Naval Symposium as a launch-pad for setting up a regional forum, where naval chiefs of the littoral states of the Indian Ocean could periodically meet to discuss regional maritime security issues. Twenty-six naval chiefs from the region attended in recognition of the utility of this initiative.

The Strait of Hormuz is the world’s most important maritime choke point. In 2006, 16.5 to 17 million barrels of oil per day from Saudi Arabia, Iran and the United Arab Emirates passed through it, destined for Japan, the United States of America, western Europe, India and others. This constitutes two-fifths of all sea-borne trade in oil, and three-fourths of Japanese oil imports. Despite the importance of this economic lifeline, the nine regional governments have not developed sufficient maritime capability to protect the strait from any serious disruption of traffic.

The Malacca Straits at the eastern end are the second biggest maritime choke point. This is the main shipping channel connecting the Indian Ocean to the Pacific Ocean. In 2006, 15 million barrels per day of oil shipments passed through them. Over 50,000 vessels pass through them every year, carrying 25 per cent of the world’s traded goods. About 25 per cent of oil shipments carried by sea pass through this waterway, mainly from the Persian Gulf to the Asian markets. Near Singapore, the straits narrow down to 2.8 kilometres. Incidents of piracy are frequent because of a large number of minor islands which provide safe havens.

India has big stakes in peace and security in the Indian Ocean region. Over 70 per cent of its oil requirements are currently being imported. The oil supplies arrive by sea, therefore, secure sea lanes are crucial. Most of the crude imported from the Gulf comes to India’s western coast in the Gulf of Kutch, with 15 to 20 very large crude carriers moving between the Persian Gulf and the Gulf of Kutch at any given time. Two-thirds of India’s oil and gas production come from off-shore fields, the most important of which are in the Arabian Sea. India is exploring oil and gas off Chennai, in the Andaman and Nicobar Islands and in the Godavari and Cauvery basins. The security of these assets and of off-shore rigs is most important. Almost 95 per cent of India’s trade is sea-borne. India has 7,516 kilometres of coastline and an exclusive economic zone of two million square kilometres, which requires protection.

Given India’s stakes, its navy has pursued an active policy of showing the flag in the region and engaging in confidence-building so that its intentions are rightly understood. With the US navy, a major player in the Indian Ocean, the Indian navy has been carrying out the Malabar exercises since 1992, with participation of nuclear-powered submarines, aircraft carriers, long-range patrol aircraft, cruisers and destroyers. Procedures for inter-operability have been worked out between the two. As part of the naval cooperation between the two countries for Operation “Enduring Freedom”, at US request, India escorted high value US shipping through the Malacca Straits for a few months. Exercises have also been conducted with France, the United Kingdom, Australia, South Africa and lately with Russia. The tsunami of 2004 demonstrated that only two navies, that of the US and India, had the capability to provide disaster relief by sea over long distances at very short notice.

India has, since 1995, been conducting the biennial MILAN get together involving the south Asian and south-east Asian navies. In 2006, nine regional navies participated. The navy holds regular exercises in the Indian Ocean region with south-east Asian navies, apart from making annual friendly visits to important ports in the region. The navy provides training in its establishments to trainees from Indian Ocean region countries. Along with the coast guard, the Indian navy conducts surveillance in the Palk Strait, the Gulf of Mannar and around its own island territories to curb the activities of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam terrorists, gun-running, poaching and influx of refugees.

International terrorism, proliferation threats (especially from non-state actors associated with terrorism), piracy, trafficking of arms, drugs and human beings are challenges facing the international community in their sea-borne dimension. Provisions of the United Nations convention on the laws of the sea, UNCLOS 111, that deal with freedom of high seas and right of innocent passage in territorial waters constrain the freedom of action of countries in dealing with these threats. Therefore, ad hoc initiatives have been taken to deal with threats of suicide attacks on ships, WMD material proliferation, misuse of containers and so on. These initiatives, such as the container security initiative and the proliferation security initiative, have dispensed with the need to build a large international consensus beforehand. While India has joined the CSI so as not to disrupt its own commercial traffic to US ports, it has not joined the PSI because of legal issues.

India’s naval policy has to be handled in a region that is extremely diverse in its complexion politically, economically and culturally, with pronounced sub-regional personalities rather than any overarching regional identity. At the sub-regional level, several local conflicts exist. No multilateral security organization encompassing the Indian Ocean region has emerged, a vacuum filled by the presence of Western powers. Their presence is for some a source of conflict and for others a source of security. International terrorism and religious extremism have emerged as dangerous problems. The Gulf region is exceptionally rich in hydrocarbon resources, which are vital for big consumer countries inside and outside the region. Assured energy supplies, which includes the protection of sea-lanes through which the oil and gas are transported, is a primary concern. Two critical choke points on the western and eastern edges of the Indian Ocean region respectively have a major geo-strategic importance in this context and that of trade flows in general. The shift in global economic growth to parts of the region gives to the rest of the world increased stakes in peace and stability in this area.

India’s central location in the Indian Ocean region, its dependence on the Indian Ocean sea-lanes for its trade and energy flows, its island territories, its long coastline and its EEZ give it a critical role to play in joint efforts to manage issues of freedom of navigation, peaceful uses of the sea left unsettled by UNCLOS 111. India’s expanding naval capacities, already the most sizable in the region, give India the means to pursue policies which are in the common interests of all.