About IONS 

INDIAN OCEAN NAVAL SYMPOSIUM (IONS)

The "Indian Ocean Naval Symposium" (IONS) is a voluntary initiative that seeks to increase maritime cooperation 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. In the process, it endeavors to generate a flow of information between naval professionals that would lead to common understanding and possibly cooperative solutions on the way ahead.

That the launch of so important a regional initiative was able to meet with such wide acceptance across the length and breadth of the Indian Ocean was in itself a unique phenomenon. There are 32 (24 members and 8 observers) Navies of the IONS which have been geographically grouped into the following four sub-regions:

South Asian Littorals: Bangladesh, India, Maldives, Pakistan, Seychelles, Sri Lanka, and the U.K.

West Asian Littorals: Iran, Oman, Saudi Arabia, and UAE

East African Littorals: France, Kenya, Mauritius, Mozambique, South Africa, and Tanzania

South East Asian and Australian Littorals: Australia, Indonesia, Malaysia, Myanmar, Singapore, Thailand and Timor Leste

Observer countries: China, Germany, Italy, Japan, Madagascar, the Netherlands, Russia, and Spain

The inaugural IONS 2008 was held in New Delhi, India on 14 Feb 2008. CNS, Indian Navy was designated the Chairman IONS for the period 2008-10. A "Charter of Business"  was mutually agreed to by the Chiefs of the Navies, which has been forwarded to all the member navies for ratification. The theme of the IONS-2008 was "Contemporary Transnational Challenges – International Maritime Connectivities".

The 2nd edition, i.e. IONS 2010 was held in Abu Dhabi from 10 to 11 May 2010, wherein the baton of IONS Chairmanship was handed over to the Commander, UAE Navy. The theme of IONS-2010 was "Together for the Reinforcement of Maritime Security in the Indian Ocean".

The activities of IONS include cooperative activities and mechanism like workshops, essay competitions, lectures, etc. The following activities have been held /scheduled under the aegis of IONS since inception:

The 3rd edition of IONS was scheduled to be held in Cape Town, South Africa from 10 to 14 April 2012 and the Chairmanship for the period 2012-14 was taken over by South African Navy. The theme for IONS 2012 was "Regional Maritime Security Initiatives Aimed at Reducing Modern Maritime Security Threats".

Distinguishing Features of IONS

The IONS is a maritime security construct on similar lines as the WPNS. Whilst the WPNS is for the region of Asia-Pacific, the IONS addresses the Indian Ocean Region.

IONS is a voluntary initiative that seeks to increase maritime cooperation 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 and, in the process, endeavours to generate a flow of information between naval professionals that would lead to common understanding and possibly agreements on the way ahead. The inclusiveness of this forum means that all the principal maritime agencies of states in the IOR are members, unless they desire otherwise, thereby involving participation by almost all the littorals in the region to address cooperative maritime issues.