Tharoor holds policy planning meet on Indian Ocean region
New Delhi, Sep 29 (IANS) Minister of State for External Affairs Shashi Tharoor Tuesday revived the policy planning division with a wide-ranging strategy meeting involving top officials, think tanks, industry bodies and experts to craft India’s policy towards the Indian Ocean Rim region.
The meeting was attended by Foreign Secretary Nirupama Rao, top officials of the external affairs and defence ministries, experts associated with leading think tanks and representatives of business bodies, reliable sources told IANS.
The discussions focused on devising a multi-faceted strategy for expanding India’s diplomatic footprint in the Indian Ocean Rim region and promoting cooperation among 18 countries of the Indian Ocean Rim-Association for Regional Cooperation (IOR-ARC).
With piracy becoming a serious global threat, Tharoor focused on India’s plans to intensify its security cooperation with the other Indian Ocean rim countries and the need for expanding people-to-people contacts.
Making a strong pitch for identifying priority areas and joint projects in academic, business and economic areas, he underlined the need for drawing up an action plan to intensify multi-pronged cooperation among countries of the region, the sources said.
N.K. Sisodia, director of the Institute for Defence Studies and Analyses (IDSA), Sudhir Devare, chief of the Indian Council of World Affairs (ICWA), Virender Gupta, director general of the Indian Council for Cultural Relations (ICCR), and M.K. Rasgotra of the Observer Research Foundation (ORF) were among those who attended the meeting.
Other organisation like the Association of Indian Diplomats, FICCI and ASSOCHAM were also present at the brainstorming session, the first of its kind held in South Block that straddled various sectors and different divisions of the external affairs ministry.
The meeting has activated the policy planning division of the ministry that had remained dormant for many years and displayed a new approach by India’s policy makers to shape the global agenda on leading issues like climate change and the Indian Ocean security.
The idea of holding a policy planning meet on the Indian Ocean Rim countries came to Tharoor when he went to attend the plenary meeting of IOR-ARC in Yemen in June, his first trip abroad after assuming office. The Indian Ocean rim countries are planning to set up an anti-piracy centre in Yemen.
Yemen currently holds the rotating presidency of IOR-ARC. India will take charge of the Indian Ocean body in two years.
New Delhi, Sep 29 (IANS) Minister of State for External Affairs Shashi Tharoor Tuesday revived the policy planning division with a wide-ranging strategy meeting involving top officials, think tanks, industry bodies and experts to craft India’s policy towards the Indian Ocean Rim region.
The meeting was attended by Foreign Secretary Nirupama Rao, top officials of the external affairs and defence ministries, experts associated with leading think tanks and representatives of business bodies, reliable sources told IANS.
The discussions focused on devising a multi-faceted strategy for expanding India’s diplomatic footprint in the Indian Ocean Rim region and promoting cooperation among 18 countries of the Indian Ocean Rim-Association for Regional Cooperation (IOR-ARC).
With piracy becoming a serious global threat, Tharoor focused on India’s plans to intensify its security cooperation with the other Indian Ocean rim countries and the need for expanding people-to-people contacts.
Making a strong pitch for identifying priority areas and joint projects in academic, business and economic areas, he underlined the need for drawing up an action plan to intensify multi-pronged cooperation among countries of the region, the sources said.
N.K. Sisodia, director of the Institute for Defence Studies and Analyses (IDSA), Sudhir Devare, chief of the Indian Council of World Affairs (ICWA), Virender Gupta, director general of the Indian Council for Cultural Relations (ICCR), and M.K. Rasgotra of the Observer Research Foundation (ORF) were among those who attended the meeting.
Other organisation like the Association of Indian Diplomats, FICCI and ASSOCHAM were also present at the brainstorming session, the first of its kind held in South Block that straddled various sectors and different divisions of the external affairs ministry.
The meeting has activated the policy planning division of the ministry that had remained dormant for many years and displayed a new approach by India’s policy makers to shape the global agenda on leading issues like climate change and the Indian Ocean security.
The idea of holding a policy planning meet on the Indian Ocean Rim countries came to Tharoor when he went to attend the plenary meeting of IOR-ARC in Yemen in June, his first trip abroad after assuming office. The Indian Ocean rim countries are planning to set up an anti-piracy centre in Yemen.
Yemen currently holds the rotating presidency of IOR-ARC. India will take charge of the Indian Ocean body in two years.
