NEW DELHI: The emphasis is on the “civil” in the Indian Ocean conference, which helps build confidence and coherence among member states, argues Vice Admiral Shekhar Sinha (Retd.), of the India Foundation which helped organise the 6th edition of this flagship conference over the weekend in Dhaka. Speaking on The Gist, Adm. Sinha who was a participant at the conference, said by focusing on maritime cooperation such as disaster relief and rescue, combating piracy and drugs trafficking, it opens the door to other ideas. For instance, there is now a discussion on a limited free trade area among Indian Ocean states. The Indian Ocean conference also seeks to build cooperative resilience against countries like China, which has used brute muscle power to get its way in the South China Sea. It is now eyeing the Indian Ocean through which the bulk of its energy trade passes.
