The story so far: ‘Reinforcing Indian Ocean Identity’ was the banner theme at the Indian Ocean Rim Association’s (IORA) Council of Ministers (COM) held in Colombo on October 11, that was attended by foreign ministers and senior officials of the 23-nation grouping of countries. This year’s conference was marked by a lot of interest from other countries, especially those who are “dialogue partners” or would like to become dialogue partners, putting a spotlight on the 26-year-old organisation, believed to be the brainchild of former South African President Nelson Mandela.
What is the IORA and how was it formed?
The Indian Ocean Rim Association includes 23 countries from Africa, West Asia, South Asia, South East Asia, Australia and littoral states situated in and around the Indian Ocean. The grouping, whose apex body is the Council of Foreign Ministers that meet once a year, moves by rotation through members every two years. Sri Lanka took charge as Chair this year from Bangladesh, and India is Vice-Chair, meaning that the troika of IORA is within the South Asian region. IORA’s membership includes 23 countries: Australia, Bangladesh, the Comoros, France, India, Indonesia, Iran, Kenya, Madagascar, Malaysia, the Maldives, Mauritius, Mozambique, Oman, Seychelles, Singapore, Somalia, South Africa, Sri Lanka, Tanzania, Thailand, the UAE and Yemen. It also has 11 dialogue partners: China, Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Germany, Italy, Japan, South Korea, Russia, Türkiye, the U.K. and the U.S. While the IORA was formed in 1997 (then called the Indian Ocean Region-Association for Regional Cooperation) in Mauritius, its genesis came from a speech Nelson Mandela gave in Delhi in 1995. He was invited by then Prime Minister P.V. Narasimha Rao as the guest for Republic Day, and said at a ceremony that India and South Africa should explore “the concept of an Indian Ocean Rim of socioeconomic cooperation and other peaceful endeavours” that could help developing countries within multilateral institutions “such as the United Nations, the Commonwealth and the Non-Aligned Movement”.
