India asks Indian Ocean rim nations to start joint projects
New Delhi, June 25 (IANS) India Thursday urged the Indian Ocean rim countries to identify priority areas and initiate projects for joint cooperation.
This was conveyed by Minister of State for External Affairs Shashi Tharoor at the plenary meeting in Yemen of the council of ministers of Indian Ocean Rim – Association for Regional Cooperation (IOR-ARC), which comprises of 18 member states from South Africa to Australia.
Tharoor said “time is now ripe” for identifying priority areas in academic, business and trade and investment groups.
“They should draw up action plans in priority areas of cooperation and implement them in a time bound-manner,” he said.
He said India had already identified its own nodal ministries and agencies to deal with the various association working groups.
India had three new proposals on agro-meterological advisory service system for enhancing agriculture output, potential fishing zone advisories and forecast demonstration project for tropical cyclones affecting the North Indian Ocean Rim countries, he said.
Tharoor hoped that despite the relative low-profile of the association, this meeting will help to foster more cooperation in different fields.
“I will be candid here and say that I had to explain to a lot of people what this association is all about, when I announced that my first trip abroad after becoming a minister would be to attend this conference.
“I am confident that we will be able to give a concrete shape and direction to the grouping in such a way that in coming years this association starts to touch the lives of people living on the shores of the mighty Indian Ocean,” he said.
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