Eye on China, India looks to step up engagement with Indian Ocean

[FOOLS_NIGHTMARE]

In a first, India has just held a special training course for 6 Indian Ocean Region (IOR) countries, 4 of them from the strategically important western Indian Ocean where India has been playing catch-up with China.

Thirty five diplomats from Madagascar, Comoros, Seychelles, Mauritius, Sri Lanka and Maldives participated in the 2-week special course held at the Sushma Swaraj Institute of Foreign Service. Comoros and Madagascar in the western Indian Ocean, a region where bureaucratic red tapism has threatened to undermine the Indian outreach, sent 12 and 10 diplomats respectively for the programme.

The course entailed modules on India’s polity, foreign policy, contemporary maritime issues, humanitarian assistance, disaster relief, international framework under UNCLOS, multilateral and economic diplomacy, diplomatic protocol, health diplomacy and climate change challenges. According to the government, this first-ever course will further promote mutual understanding and cooperation between IOR countries and help build awareness about this region as one based on “peace, progress and prosperity” for all.

The fact that countries like Comoros and Madagascar, the largest island in the Indian Ocean, showed a lot of interest in the programme is of significance to India.

Eye on China, India looks to step up engagement with Indian Ocean - Defence News India

In a first, India has just held a special training course for 6 Indian Ocean Region (IOR) countries, 4 of them from the strategically important western Indian Ocean where India has been playing catch-up with China.

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