Panaji: Maritime leaders of 14 nations of the Indian Ocean Region (IOR) will gather in Goa on Saturday to deliberate over maritime terrorism, smuggling, illegal fishing, piracy, and dark shipping fleets.The discussions will be held at the 5th edition of the Goa Maritime Conclave, hosted by the Indian Navy.Chiefs of foreign navies and heads of maritime forces of these nations will hold high-level talks on emerging maritime challenges, including climate change, to identify ways to mitigate these risks.“The conclave serves as a forum for discussion and implementation of practical initiatives for information sharing and capacity building against shared maritime security challenges at sea,” said the commandant of the Naval War College, Goa, Rear Admiral Arjun Dev Nair.The nations participating in the deliberations as part of the Goa Maritime Conclave are Bangladesh, Comoros, Indonesia, Kenya, Madagascar, Malaysia, Maldives, Mauritius, Myanmar, Seychelles, Singapore, Sri Lanka, Thailand, and Tanzania.China and Pakistan were not invited.The Naval War College plans to impart training and studies to navies of the IOR.“This year, we are further developing these foreign cooperation initiatives, and we are opening up more courses for the countries of the IOR at the Naval War College in longer formats. The maritime security course is about eight weeks, but we are opening up seats for the Indian Ocean countries in the higher command course, which is about 32 weeks, for these countries to participate,” said Nair.He said that the Indian Navy is keeping a close watch on all vessels transiting through the Indian Ocean, including dark fleets such as oil tankers, that attempt to evade international sanctions, regulations, and insurance requirements.“They’re all being continuously monitored and tracked. Accordingly, actions are being taken by the respective countries based on information that is generated at the Information Fusion Centre at Gurugram,” added Nair.
