By Bizodisha Bureau, Bhubaneswar, March 20, 2015

Union minister for external affairs, Sushama Swaraj on Friday called for working out a common regional standard to promote intra-regional trade among the nations around the Indian Ocean.

“Some mechanisms need to be evolved to address the challenges and hindrances in the way of trade growth to ensure that intra-regional trade becomes significant to make the overall economic performance of [Indian Ocean Rim Association [IORA] vibrant”, she said inaugurating three-day intentional conference on India and the Indian Ocean – Reviewing the Maritime Trade and Civilisational Linkages” here.

The vast Indian Ocean region hosts over 40 states and nearly 40% of world population. It is vast and diverse, home to great cultures and holds immense opportunities for the future. “This region which extends from African coast to West Asia, South Asia and South East Asia and touches Australia has been a focus of our foreign policy. This is evident from the several visits undertaken by Prime Minister to this region including most recently to Seychelles, Mauritius and Sri Lanka. I myself have also visited most of the countries in this region”, she remarked.

Of late, the Indian Ocean has acquired new salience with the shift of the global economic engines to Asia. There has been sustained economic growth in the countries on the littoral of the Indian Ocean.

“We see growing global stakes and presence in the region. At the same time the region is witnessing non-traditional threats such as natural disasters, piracy, terrorism, illegal fishing, oil spills and effects of climate change”, the external affairs minister said adding that maritime security is an important dimension of India’s bilateral relations with all Indian Ocean Littoral states.

The external affairs minister identified maritime security as an important dimension of India’s bilateral relations with all Indian Ocean Littoral states.

“We look forward to building closer cooperation in the maritime domain, regularize bilateral maritime exercises and strengthen the dialogues between the navies and the Coast Guards with all littoral countries in the Indian Ocean Region. India is part of various multilateral institutions, which are actively debating maritime security issues in the Asia Pacific region”, she added.

The Indian Ocean carries one half of world’s container shipments, one-third of the bulk cargo traffic and two-thirds of the oil shipments, though three-fourths of this traffic goes to other regions of the world. About 90% of trade by volume and 90% of oil imports from India take place through sea. The country has a long coastline of 7500 km, 1200 islands and 2.4 million square kilometers of Exclusive Economic Zone.

Underscoring the importance of the Indian Ocean, Swaraj said. “We call this Indian Ocean outreach as ‘SAGAR’. As Prime Minister said in Mauritius last week, we seek a future for Indian Ocean that lives up to the name of SAGAR- Security and Growth for All in the Region”.

Swaraj pointed out that the region experienced steady growth in global and intra-regional trade since 2003. Global trade expanded by 3.5 times from USD 1,224 billion in 2003 to USD 4,232 billion in 2012 whereas intra-regional trade increased by more than four times from USD 302 billion to USD 1,230 billion over the same period. Intra-regional trade ratio that measures the degree of trade integration in the region has also registered significant increase over the years.

“This growth in intra-regional trade without any formal trade arrangement among the member states reflects the potential existing in the region for deepening regional economic integration,” she asserted.

The minister, however, clarified that full potential of intra-regional trade still remained untapped because of poor communication and transport links, lack of information about the supply capabilities, among other barriers.

“The ports in most part of the region need to be modernized and equipped with multi-modal transport facilities besides efficiency improvements. The customs and clearance procedures at borders need to be streamlined to reduce delays and costs of transit”, she said.

Swaraj identified sectors potential for trade expansion and regional integration as food processing, fisheries, tourism, environmentally sensitive goods, information technology, SMEs, regional value chain, and so on.

Speaking on the occasion, chief minister, Naveen Patnaik recounted the glorious maritime history of Odisha saying that it was the gateway of India for overseas Asian trade.

Quoting American Geo-strategist and Navy Admirl, Alfred Thayer Mahan, Patnaik said, “Who so ever controls the Indian Ocean in 21st Century, will control the destiny of the world”. He called for formulation of a comprehensive geo-strategic policy that promotes mutually beneficial engagements on an umbrella of issues relating to trade, culture, security and environment.

“As we are culturally closer to these nations, we can do business with these countries with relative ease and address one another’s concern”, he remarked.

The external affairs minister also released a postal stamp to commemorate 1000th year of Rajendra Chola’s ascension to the throne of the Chola Empire, which controlled the ocean trade to the Far East. The chief minister release a couple of boos on the Indian Ocean on this occasion.

Among others, union minister of state [independent charge] for petroleum and natural gas, Dharmendra Pradhan, representative from prme minister’s office, R N Ravi, and other spoke on the occasion.