International Conference on Indian Ocean Regionalism: Reinvigorating IOR-ARC Jointly hosted by Indian Council for World Affairs (ICWA) and Indian Ocean Research Group (IORG), New Delhi - May 5-6, 2011
There exist several examples of important sub-regionalisms in the Indian Ocean Region (IOR) - Bay of Bengal Initiative for Multi-Sectoral Technical and Economic Cooperation (BIMSTEC), South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) and (Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC). There is also a region-wide grouping created in 1997 primarily for reasons of economic cooperation - the Indian Ocean Rim Association for Regional Cooperation or IOR-ARC.
Any serious critical evaluation of IOR-ARC will reveal that it has had limited success, due, among other things, to a combination of its restrictive scope, membership and commitment on the part of member states. Furthermore, as some commentators have argued, successful economic regionalism often follows rather than precedes strong internal economic interaction among member states.
India assumes the Chair of IOR-ARC and Australia assumes the Vice-Chair in 2011.
As a result of India's likely future leadership in strengthening Indian Ocean regionalism, and with the prospect of a positive Australian government stance, it is likely that Indian Ocean linkages will improve in the future, not just in matters of trade.
In the above context, this Conference aims to examine the relative success of Indian Ocean regionalism and sub-regionalism and to explore new initiatives that can reinvigorate IOR-ARC in the future.
Conference Themes
- The theory of regionalism
- Types of regionalism - economic, security, environmental
- IOR-ARC successes and failures
- ASEAN and the Indian Ocean Region
- Bay of Bengal Initiative for Multi-Sectoral Technical and Economic Cooperation
- The Gulf Cooperation Council
- South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation
- The future for Indian Ocean regionalism
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At the 10th Council of Ministers (COM) Meeting of the Indian Ocean Rim Association for Regional Cooperation (IOR-ARC), held on 5th August 2010 in Sana'a, Republic of Yemen, the Indian Ocean Research Group (IORG) Inc was granted Observer Status to IOR-ARC more...
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