By Raju Vernekar
Mumbai, Nov 7:
The 3rd edition of the Goa Maritime Conclave (GMC) – 2021, the Indian Navy’s outreach initiative, will be held under the aegis of Naval War College, at Cidade-de-Goa on Monday and Tuesday.
It seeks to provide a multinational platform to harness the collective wisdom of practitioners of maritime security and the academia towards garnering outcome oriented maritime thought.
The GMC-21 would build upon the working level deliberations of the Goa Maritime Symposium-21 held in May this year, as the “Sherpa” event for the conclave.
The theme for this year’s edition of GMC is “Maritime Security and Emerging Non-Traditional Threats: A Case for Proactive Role for IOR Navies”. It has been derived keeping in mind the necessity of ‘winning everyday peace’ in the maritime domain.
At the GMC-21, Admiral Karambir Singh, Chief of the Naval Staff of Indian Navy would be hosting Chiefs of Navies/ Heads of Maritime Forces from 12 Indian Ocean littorals, including Bangladesh, Comoros, Indonesia, Madagascar, Malaysia, Maldives, Mauritius, Myanmar, Seychelles, Singapore, Sri Lanka and Thailand. The Defence Secretary and Foreign Secretary would be delivering the Conclave Address and Keynote Address of the GMC-21, a Defence spokesman Commander Mehul Karnik said.
The Chief of Naval Staff, Union Foreign Secretary, Defence Secretary, Flag Officer Commanding in Chief, Southern Command and Western Naval Command, Chiefs/ Heads of friendly foreign Navies, Academic Experts and Ship Building firms would be taking part in the event. The opening ceremony will be followed by Talks by Maritime Experts. On Tuesday a visit to Deep Submergence Rescue Vessel and Frontline War Ships at Marmugao Port will be organised for foreign Naval Participants.
With Indian Ocean region (IOR) becoming the focus of the 21st century strategic landscape, the GMC aims to bring together regional stakeholders and deliberate on the collaborative implementation strategies in dealing with contemporary maritime security challenges. The conclave participants would benefit from interactions with eminent speakers and subject matter experts over three sessions focusing on – “Leveraging Collective Maritime Competencies to Counter Emerging Non-Traditional Threats”, “Strengthening Regional Cooperation for Maritime Law Enforcement” and “Imperatives for Mitigating Emerging Non Traditional Threats in areas beyond National Jurisdiction in the IOR”.
There would also be extensive deliberations in the domains of hydrography and maritime information sharing. The participating Chiefs of Navies/ Heads of Maritime Agencies would also dwell upon the significance of interoperability to effectively deal with emerging and future maritime security challenges in the Indian Ocean Region.
As part of the conclave, visitors would also be afforded an opportunity to witness India’s indigenous shipbuilding industry at the ‘Make in India Exhibition’ and the capabilities of Deep Submergence Rescue Vessel (DSRV) for Submarines at the Marmugao Port Trust, Goa. In its third iteration, the Goa Maritime Conclave continues to strive to advance the principle of collective responsibility for ensuring safe and secure seas and sustained peace in the Indian Ocean Region.
