India would continue to Chair IOR-ARC till November 2013 when Australia is slated to takeover and Indonesia would be the Vice Chair.

At the 12th IOR-ARC Council of Ministers’ Meeting which concluded here in this satellite township near New Delhi on Friday, the Indian External Affairs Minister Salman Khurshid mooted the proposal for establishing a multi-disciplinary University for Indian Ocean Rim on the lines of Nalanda University, South Asian University and the proposed University for Overseas Indians in India.

“I flagged the idea, received well by others. This multi-disciplinary University can be like the Nalanda University and South Asian University which are supported by other countries. It is an unique idea. We will see which country in the region would be willing to host this University,” Khurshid said.

India will host an IOR-ARC seminar on maritime security in early 2013 and the experts would consider its institutionalization as regional forum for continuing exchanges of views and monitoring of the situation.

A mobile exhibition of archival documents from IORARC countries and a separate IORARC segment in the forthcoming International Film Festival of India in Goa this month.

Focusing on the need for cooperation in education in the Indian Ocean Rim region, Khurshid in his opening remarks at the Council of Ministers’ Meeting said : “The first meeting of the Core Group on Cultural Cooperation, the 13thMeeting of the Working Group of Heads of Mission and a meeting to finalize the Draft Constitution of the University Mobility in the Indian Ocean Region were held in South Africa earlier this year.”

In the last Council Of Ministers’ Meeting in Bengaluru in November 2011 where India took over as its Chair, six priority areas were prioritized for cooperation, namely maritime security and safety, disaster risk reduction, trade and investment facilitation, fisheries management, academic and science and technology cooperation and tourism and cultural exchange

Several programmes were undertaken under these priority areas. These include a professional course for diplomats from IOR-ARC countries, a workshop on coastal zone management, a meeting of Heads of National Archives of our countries, The Regional Centre for Science and Technology Transfer hosted a number of useful programmes to further our cooperation in the arena of Science and Technology.

India’s think tank Research and Information Systems for Developing Countries (RIS) released the IOR-ARC Report on Trade and Investment and conducted workshops on trade facilitation and customs harmonisation in India and Australia.

A mid-term meeting of Committee of Senior Officials was held in Mauritius in May this year under India’s Chairmanship to take stock of the progress in our cooperation. India has made the payment of $ 1 million towards the Special Fund as was committed by it at the Bengaluru Council of Ministers’ Meeting in November 2011.

Khurshid described the 12th Council of Ministers’ Meeting as successful which has “achieved the right chemistry to take the organisation forward.”

The IOR-ARC Secretary General, Kocheril Velayudhan Bhagirath said : “IOR-ARC is coming out of age. Nation beyond it are seeking our partnership.”

The Seychelles Foreign Minister Jean Paul Adam said that his country would set up a Regional Anti-Piracy Centre and has asked the UN for management of the continental shelf between Seychelles and Comoros.

Dialogue Partner China has committed to assist IOR-ARC with $ 100,000, while UAE, a member country, committed $ 500,000. Egypt, a Dialogue Partner, expressed its desire to Join IOR-ARC keeping in view the links of Suez Canal and the Red Sea to the Indian Ocean.