Iran Attends 12th IOR-ARC Meeting In India

New Delhi, Oct 29, IRNA – A high ranking Iranian delegation will attend the 12th meeting of Indian Ocean Rim-Association for Regional Cooperation (IOR-ARC), scheduled to begin at India’s millennium city of Gurgaon in NCR (National Capital Region), from October 29 to November 2. The meeting will facilitate a review of the status of the projects and also provide the platform for initiating fresh proposals of cooperation that will be tabled for consideration. Beside Iran, 100 delegates including foreign ministers, ambassadors and media representatives from member countries will take part in the meeting. The 19 member states of the IOR-ARC association are Iran, Australia, Bangladesh, India, Indonesia, Kenya, Madagascar, Malaysia, Mauritius, Mozambique, Oman, Seychelles, Singapore, South Africa, Sri Lanka, Tanzania, Thailand, United Arab Emirates and Yemen. The Association also has 5 dialogue partners including China, Egypt, France, Japan, United Kingdom, while the Indian Ocean Tourism Organization and the Indian Ocean Research Group are observers. The IOR-ARC Charter lists areas of cooperation including trade facilitation and liberalization, promotion of foreign investment, scientific and technological exchanges, tourism; and the development of infrastructure and human resources inter-alia poverty alleviation, promotion of maritime transport and related matters, as well as cooperation in the field of fisheries trade. IOR-ARC, a regional cooperation initiative of the Indian Ocean Rim countries, was established in Mauritius in March 1997 with the aim of promoting economic and technical cooperation. IOR-ARC is the only pan-Indian ocean grouping. It brings together countries from three continents having different sizes, economic strengths, and a wide diversity of languages and cultures. It aims to create a platform for trade, socio-economic and cultural cooperation in the Indian Ocean rim area, which constitutes a population of about two billion people. The Indian Ocean Rim is rich in strategic and precious minerals, metals and other natural resources, marine resources and energy, all of which can be sourced from Exclusive Economic Zones (EEZ), continental shelves and the deep seabed. The 11th meeting of COM was held in Bengaluru on November 15, 2011 where India assumed Chair of IOR-ARC. Indian Ocean is vital for the transportation of oil and conduct of other forms of global trade. As far as India is concerned, over 97 per cent of its international trade by volume and 75 per cent by value passes through it. Though the IOR-ARC is yet to find its bearings, it has great economic potential — its combined GDP is likely to cross $9 trillion by 2016./end