India offers to host Information Fusion Centre to ensure maritime security

India on Tuesday offered to host an Information Fusion Centre as part of efforts to ensure maritime safety and security in the Indian Ocean.

It was one of the proposals made by Vice President Hamid Ansari at the first summit of the Indian Ocean Rim Association (IORA) in Jakarta.

Ansari said maritime safety and security can be reinforced by institutionalising cooperative mechanisms such as White Shipping Agreements and by setting up an Information Fusion Centre for strengthening Maritime Domain Awareness (MDA).

“My government would be happy to host such a centre in India, with our in-house expertise supplemented by support from IORA member countries,” he said.

He also announced the intention of the Indian government to establish the ‘IORA Centre of Excellence (ICE)’ in an Indian coastal city.

“The objective would be to provide academics and researchers access to a collective source of data and resource material. We will shortly be circulating a concept note on the proposed Centre through the IORA Secretariat,” he said.

He said India will also be happy to share its hydrographical capability with the member states for better navigation and understanding of marine topography.

He proposed a network of think tanks to enable the collation of available resources with member countries.

The Association comprises India, Australia, Bangladesh, Iran, Kenya, Comoros, Madagascar, Malaysia, Mauritius, Mozambique, Oman, Seychelles, Singapore, Somalia, South Africa, Sri Lanka, Tanzania, Thailand, the United Arab Emirates and Yemen. It also has seven Dialogue Partners—the US, China, Egypt, France, Germany, Japan and the UK.