The membership of Comoros in the IOR-ARC and the request of the US to be a Dialogue Partner are slated to be decided at the 12th Council of Ministers Meeting of this global body at Gurgaon township near Delhi on Friday.

The new Indian External Affairs Minister Salman Khurshid will chair the 12th IOR-ARC Council of Ministers Meeting. This will be Khurshid’s first opportunity to chair a global body after he assumed office on October 28.

The IOR-ARC works on the principle of consensus and objection by any member of the 19-member body would entail rejection of the proposal.

According to sources, Iran was opposing US becoming a Dialogue Partner, but the situation is managed before the consensus can be arrived at tomorrow. The Iranian Foreign Minister Dr Ali Akbar Salehi will be unable to attend the meeting due to his illness. He will be represented by his deputy.

The issue of US to be a Dialogue Partner was discussed at the India-Japan-US Trilateral Meeting held here on October 29. The three countries also shared perceptions of strategic overview of Asia-Pacific region. The matter was also discussed between India and the US at the last Strategic Dialogue between the two countries.

“We have indicated as the Chair of the Indian Ocean Rim Association for Regional Cooperation that we will work with other members to try and see if this is possible. We have circulated the US request and this will be discussed at the forthcoming meeting, and we will take it from there,” said the Spokesperson of the Indian External Affairs Ministry, Syed Akbaruddin.

Khurshid had rounds of bilateral meetings with the Parliamentary Secretary in the Australian Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade, Richard Marles, Madagascar Foreign Minister, Pierrot Jocelyn Rajaonarivelo, Kenyan Foreign Minister Samson Ongeri and Seychelles Foreign Minister Jean Paul Adam here on Thursday.

He meet the meet the Iranian Deputy Foreign Minister, Sir Lankan External Affairs Minister Prof Gamini Peiris and Oman Foreign Minister Yousuf Alawi on Friday.

Khurshid's common focus in Thursday’s interactions was the utilisation of line of credit (LoCs) extended by India to each of these African States, possibilities of enhancing scholarships in Indian educational institutions. There were also detailed discussions on the threat that piracy poses to all the Indian Ocean Rim States and the prospects of greater cooperation including through international organisations in taking anti-piracy measures.

Prof Ongeri of Kenya, having studied his medicine in India was keen on an increase in ITEC scholarships. There was a detailed discussion on the situation in Somalia and the need for international efforts to adopt a multi-pronged approach to assist Somalia.

Khurshid’s discussions with Madagascar Minister also included a detailed briefing on the political situation.

With Seychelles Minister, he discussed various aspects of defence cooperation including the provision of another Dornier aircraft by India to Seychelles to help in monitoring the sea lanes.

The 19-member IOR-ARC consists of Australia, Bangladesh, India, Indonesia, Iran, Kenya, Malaysia, Madagascar, Mauritius, Mozambique, Oman, Seychelles, Singapore, South Africa, Sri Lanka, Tanzania, UAE and Yemen. There are five Dialogue Partners for the Association, namely China, Egypt, France, Japan and the UK. There are two observer organizations, namely the Indian Ocean Research Group and the Indian Ocean Tourism Organisation based in Oman.

The IOR-ARC has set up three institutions so far namely, Fisheries Support Unit headquartered in Oman, Regional Centre for Science and Technology Transfer based in Tehran and Maritime Transport Council.

The theme of the 12th IOR-ARC Council of Ministers Meeting is IOR-ARC at 15 – The Next Decade”, signifying the formal launch of this global body in March 1997.

The Council of Ministers Meeting is the culmination of a series of interactions of bodies of the Association. Prior to the crucial meeting of Council of Ministers the Indian Ocean Rim Academic Group, the Indian Ocean Business Forum, the Working Group on Trade and Investment which is a group of government officials dealing with trade policy issues, and finally the Committee of Senior Officials met to prepared the agenda for discussion.

IOR-ARC is the only pan Indian Ocean organization of its kind - a unique group of States on the rim of the Ocean which accounts for no less than two billion people, States that are characterized by diversities in size, population, culture and economic development. A notable feature is the number of overlapping regional organizations which have their rationale. The members of IOR-ARC are also members of other multilateral groupings like ASEAN, GCC, SAARC or SADIC. Therefore, IOR-ARC has to increasingly position itself as an apex body which takes into account the differing perspectives, the differing approaches and binds them together into a unified whole in spite of the diversity.

IOR-ARC is aspiring to work with UN systems and ECOSOC.

Over the last few years, the countries of the Indian Ocean Rim have clearly come together on one account, that their strategic interests are served by the wellbeing and stability of the maritime domain. That is what brings this Association together and what has given it its increased relevance in the contemporary period.

The charter of the Association primarily envisages an economic and social grouping. However, on account of the strategic relevance of the Indian Ocean to all its membership, it is inevitable that some issues which are not necessarily purely economic in nature but impact on the economic welfare of the region like maritime security, issues of piracy, issues of humanitarian access and disaster relief necessarily form the part of the agenda.

The first Prime Minister of India Pt Jawaharlal Nehru, in his book ‘Discovery of India’ which predates country’s Independence, had envisioned a group of countries bordering the Indian Ocean and helping each other in tackling common challenges. A similar idea was mooted by the then Foreign Minister of South Africa Pik Botha during his 1993 visit to India, and given a further fillip by Nelson Mandela in 1994. It was also mooted by the Shah of Iran in 1974, and subsequently explored by Mauritius in 1980s. So, there is a very strong political will that underpins this Association.

These event subsequently led to a group of seven countries, one from each side of the Indian Ocean - Australia, India, Kenya, Sultanate of Oman, Singapore and South Africa - the so-called seven meeting in Mauritius in 1995 was called M7 (Mauritius 7) to talk about enhancing cooperation on the rim. In a Joint Statement they agreed on - interestingly these words are relevant - 'Principles of open regionalism and inclusivity of membership with the objectives of trade liberalisation and promoting trade cooperation”. This was expanded to the M14 with the addition of seven more members. The Association was formally launched, after five more members had joined, in March 1997.

The Indian Ocean is the third largest body of water on Earth linking the developed economies of the West to the bourgeoning powerhouses of markets of Asia in the East. Seventy per cent of global traffic in petroleum products and energy and half the world’s containers traffic transits across the Indian Ocean. Apart from its major reserves of oil and gas, the Indian Ocean Rim is rich in resources from fisheries to precious minerals, from agricultural wealth to valuable human technical expertise. But the Indian Ocean has its challenges like maritime security, the incidents of piracy that have taken place over the last few years. Indian Ocean region has also been the victim of a tsunami in 2004.

Despite global slowdown, Indian Ocean Rim economies performed well in 2011. In 2011 the combined GDP of IOR-ARC members was estimated at $ 6.5 trillion, up from $5.7 trillion in 2010, in just one year. From 2001 to 2010, regional trade more than tripled from $ 1.1 trillion in 2001 to $ 3.5 trillion in 2010. The share of intra-IOR-ARC trade in global trade increased from 8.6% to 11.6% over the same period. Its regional investment trends have also shown a steady growth, both FDI inflows as well as outflows. FDI inflows into Indian Ocean Rim countries quadrupled to $ 201 billion in 2011 from a mere $50 billion in 2001. Share of IOR-ARC’s global FDI inflows increased from 6% in 2001 to 13.2% in 2011.

Across the Indian Ocean move 90% of India’s energy imports and over 80% of India’s international trade. India’s total trade with the RIM States has grown more than eight-fold to reach $156 billion during the period 2001 to 2010. It was $156 billion last year. India’s telephone and internet connectivity is largely dependent on quality under sea communication cable infrastructure in the Indian Ocean.

Therefore, the IOR-ARC has instituted a special fund at the Sixth Council of Ministers Meeting in Tehran, to help support Indian Ocean Association projects by some of its less developed members who may require additional financial resources to organize workshops, events or interactions. India was the first country to announce an initial contribution to this special fund and it has been followed by Iran, Oman, Yemen, China and others. Last year, India announced a further contribution of $1 million at the 11th Council of Ministers Meeting in Bengaluru, where it assumed the Chair of IOR-ARC for two years.

In the Bengaluru Meeting six priority areas were identified like maritime security and safety, trade and investment facilitation, fisheries, disaster reduction and humanitarian access, academic, science and technology cooperation, tourism promotion and cultural exchanges. Many more areas of cooperation will be planned for coming years.