The geo-political and geo-economic power shift from the west to east raises new challenges in the Indian Ocean Region and international relations, said experts who spoke at a recent two-day international conference hosted by the UGC Centre for Maritime Studies in Pondicherry University.
Addressing those attending at the event ‘Indo-Pacific: Emerging Dynamics’, Subramanyam Raju, coordinator of the UGC Centre, pointed to the growing importance of this power shift.
The Indian Ocean Region was now the high focus region and currently, the Indo-Pacific accounts for 40% of global trade and 62% of the world’s GDP, he said.
A greater role
In this context, he envisaged a greater role for the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS-3), which has laid out the principle that the high seas was a shared asset while demarcating and designating legal status of other maritime zones such as internal waters, territorial waters and exclusive economic zones. Earlier, inaugurating the meet, Rajiv Bhatia, former Ambassador to Mexico, split up the chronology of maritime power into three parts: the 1950’s to 80’s which was dominated by the European countries; 1980’s to 90’s by West Asia and the 21st century which is confined to the Indian Ocean Region.
He also underscored the need for calibrating India’s approach in tune with the developments in the Indo-Pacific Region. In his presidential address, Prof. Gurmeet Singh, Pondicherry University Vice-Chancellor, stressed the importance of the Andaman and Nicobar Islands and why China should not be ignored if India has to move forward.
‘Act East Policy’
P.V. Rao, National Fellow, Indian council of Social Science Research, New Delhi, called for scaling up connectivity for the prosperity of the region.
Prof. Rao also spoke of India’s ‘Act East Policy’ and the changed dynamic where New Delhi was now being called as a major partner rather than a member or observer State.
Among the international delegates at the conference were Sam Bateman from Australia and Tomasz Lukaszuk from Poland.
The Vice-Chancellor and dignitaries also released Blue Economy of India: Emerging Trends, a book edited by Subramanyam Raju, and five monographs focused on maritime affairs.
