REINVIGORATING IORARC

The extended Indian Ocean space from the shores of Africa to Australasia, arguably, holds the potential to define the contours of the emerging global geostrategic and economic architecture; it is rich in energy and other resources; includes flashpoints involving extra –regional power; is host to a few of the fastest growing economies and emerging power centres; and some of the crucial sea lanes pass through this space. At the same time, it is increasingly  an area of rivalries, transnational crime, nontraditional threats to security, tensions and disputes, highlighting the need for strategic and economic cooperation, particularly amongst the littoral and hinterland countries. The somewhat slow to take off Indian Ocean Rim Cooperation (IORARC) initiative could become one small effort to initiate such cooperation.