IONS Preparatory Workshop, attended by representatives from 23 member and observer countries, and hosted by Oman Maritime Security Center and Royal Navy of Oman, was held in Muscat from 14 to 15 of October.

In this workshop, representative of the I.R. Iran Navy as the periodic chair of IONS gave a detailed account of the IRIN activities during its tenure including holding the Maritime Security IWG meeting, preparation of the Guideline for MARSEC IWG, compiling IONS Tactical Publication, holding IONS Maritime Exercise 2020 Briefing Session, etc.

Moreover, in this workshop, representatives of the Australian Navy (as IS&I IWG chair) and Indian Navy (as HADR IWG chair) gave reports about their activities and measures.

Finally, the representatives discussed the outcomes and resolutions of IONS trinary working groups and unanimously confirmed the workshop's resolutions. These resolutions, for final confirmation and execution, will be brought up at Conclave of Chiefs (CoC) which will be held in French Island of Reunion in the Indian Ocean in 2020. The preparatory workshop is a coordination meeting which is held biannually between two IONS seminars.