Indian Ocean security taskforce to be launched in Australia

MELBOURNE: A taskforce on the changing security dynamics of the Indian Ocean Region and the roles of India and Australia in Indo-Pacific security will be launched in Canberra next month.

Australian Foreign Minister Bob Carr will officially launch the Australia India Institute's latest taskforce at Parliament House in Canberra on March 20.

A taskforce, which was set by Australia India Institute (AII) in 2011 has brought together experts from Australia and India to discuss, debate and report on policy directions that both may consider for the future enhancement of regional security.

According to inaugural director of AII, a Melbourne-based thinktank, Amitabh Mattoo, said, "The report traverses the questions of the changing security dynamics of the Indian Ocean Region, the security challenges, and India and Australia's Indo-Pacific security."

The report has also examined issues related to sea lanes of communication security along the long Indo-Pacific littoral, with particular focus on Indian and Australian perspective on SLOC security between the red sea and South China sea and to consider the roles of India and Australia in Indo-Pacific security, including discussion of Indian and Australian perspectives on their (and each other's) future roles in Indo-Pacific security.

The taskforce has been based on four principal related aims including to discuss the geopolitics of the Indian Ocean Region (IOR), its changing global significance, the various perspectives of regional states and the IOR's relationships with other regions as a part of a broad context for an analysis of security issues.

It has also been aimed to analyse the numerous security challenges of the IOR, including major 'non-traditional' security issues, including fishing and food security, global warming and environmental issues, population and migration, access to undersea energy resources and differences and similarities in Indian and Australian perspectives.