Context:
- IONS 10th anniversary celebrations to commence at Kochi.
About IONS-2018:
- The theme for the 10th anniversary seminar is “IONS as a Catalyst for SAGAR”.
- 26 of the 32 countries which constitute the total membership of IONS would be participating in the seminar.
- It aims to discuss maritime issues pertaining to cooperative capacity-building to deal with common security concerns in the region.
About SAGAR:
- “SAGAR” stands for Security and Growth for All in the Region.
- ‘SAGAR’ is in consonance with India’s ‘Act East’ policy and the nation’s diplomatic, economic and military outreach in the region.
About IONS:
- The ‘Indian Ocean Naval Symposium’ (IONS) is a voluntary initiative that seeks to increase maritime co-operation among navies of the littoral states of the Indian Ocean Region by providing an open and inclusive forum for discussion of regionally relevant maritime issues.
- The IONS, represented by their Navy chiefs was launched by India in 2008.
- They are a series of biennial meetings among the littoral states of the Indian Ocean region.
- IONS seeks to increase maritime co-operation among navies of littoral states of Indian Ocean Region (IOR) by providing an open and inclusive forum for discussion of regionally relevant maritime issues.
- Under IONS charter of business adopted in 2014, the forum has working groups on HADR (Humanitarian Assistance and Disaster Relief), IS&I (Information Security and Interoperability) and maritime security (antipiracy).
- It presently has 23 members and nine observers.
- India and Pakistan are members while China is an Observer in IONS.
Source:PIB