India Reiterates Call for Peace in Indian Ocean Region: Sushma Swaraj

Hanoi: Pointing out that the seas around India have nurtured its links of commerce and culture with its extended neighborhood over millennia, Indian External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj on Monday said that nurturing a climate of peace and stability in this region is an important priority for New Delhi's foreign policy.

"This region is host to the world's busiest waterways and three-quarters of that traffic are headed for destinations beyond our region," Sushma Swaraj said while addressing the Third Indian Ocean Conference here.

"As an important trade and energy waterway, carrying half the world's container shipment, one-third of its bulk cargo traffic and two third of oil shipments, the Indian Ocean clearly assumes importance well beyond its immediate shores and its littorals," she said. "Nurturing a climate of peace and stability in this region is, therefore, an important priority for our foreign policy." Stating that that though there is diversity within the region, Sushma Swaraj said challenges within it are "quite similar". "Our vision for the region is one of cooperation and collective action," she said.

India, along with the US, Japan, and Australia, is part of a quad revived last year that seeks to work for peace and prosperity in the Indo-Pacific region.

Sushma Swaraj's remarks assume significance given China's belligerent attitude in the South China Sea region and Beijing's attempts to increase its footprint across the Indian Ocean.

"Hanoi is, therefore, a particularly appropriate setting for us to discuss developments in the Indian Ocean and the Indo-Pacific region," she said.

She said that India sees the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN)regional bloc as central to the regional maritime architecture, reflecting Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi's remarks at the Shangri-La Dialogue in Singapore in June. Sushma Swaraj stressed on three priorities that New Delhi accords to the Indian Ocean region and referred to the SAGAR (Security and Growth for All in the Region) initiative of New Delhi. (IANS)