5TH INDIA-EU TRACK 1.5 MARITIME SECURITY WORKSHOP
Concept Note
The relationship between India and the European Union is based on shared values and principles such as democracy, rule of law, rules-based international order and multilateralism. The ties between these two “natural partners” are all-encompassing and consist of important features such as trade, energy, investment, climate change, science and technology, transportation, digital and human connectivity, security and defence, etc. India and the EU have institutionalised various dialogues on migration and mobility, counter-terrorism, cyber-security, human rights, non-proliferation and disarmament, and maritime security.
The 4th edition of the Track 1.5 “India-EU Maritime Security Workshop” was held in Brussels on 05 and 06 July 2023 on the theme, “Contemporary Developments in EU-India Maritime Security Cooperation in the Indian Ocean”. The sessional themes of the 4th workshop explored the avenues of India-EU convergence in the Indian Ocean on issues such as the evolving security paradigm in light of contemporary geopolitical developments, possible responses to hybrid maritime threats, the need for a standard methodology for assessing vulnerability of key maritime infrastructure to climate change, defining the terms of EU’s involvement in the Indo-Pacific Oceans Initiative (IPOI), defining the terms of EU-India cooperation in countering IUU Fishing, and assessing the potential of EU-India cooperation through the Coordinated Maritime Presences (CMP) Concept.
The key recommendations arising from the deliberations during the 4th India-EU Maritime Security Workshop were shared with relevant stakeholders.
The ongoing war in Ukraine, the increasing Sino-Russian geopolitical embrace, and the sharp rise in military tensions along and across the trans-Himalayan boundary between India and China have, in aggregate, generated a need to carefully consider the possibility of a Chinese invasion of Taiwan, and, equally if not more worryingly, the possibility of armed conflict between India and China spilling into the maritime domain. Where Taiwan is concerned, both India and the European Union maintain economic relations with Taiwan and from a political standpoint, both adopt quite a similar approach in that both have reiterated their refusal to have China change the status quo through unilateral military action. Additionally, such authoritarian regimes are increasingly attempting to undermine the EU’s and India’s shared democratic values to polarise States and societies for their purposes, using a variety of hybrid activities, including (but not limited to) information manipulation, cyber-attacks, lawfare, economic coercion, or the weaponisation of human migration. Further in the South China Sea, China has become a master in the art of using grey zone strategies. A commonplace geographical manifestation of these grey zone ‘strategies’ (as opposed to grey zone ‘tactics’) is in maritime areas that are dependent on sovereign States whose institutions are unable — largely due to insufficient agency — to assert their influence and writ over these areas.
The Nord Stream 2 sabotage has highlighted the risk of deliberate damage to submarine cables on a much larger and more damaging scale and these risks are certainly applicable to submarine cables linking India and Europe. Studies undertaken by India’s National Maritime Foundation, for example, indicate not only that it would take only five interdictions of submarine cables to completely isolate India from Europe, but that these physical disruptions could be undertaken in locations far removed from India’s borders — in the Mediterranean Sea, for example. Maritime cybersecurity will be key in ensuring the unhindered delivery of maritime freight-transport and passenger services as the technologies that constitute ‘Industry 4.0’ and ‘Industry 5.0’ increasingly manifest themselves within the maritime domain, traditional shipping is giving way to ‘smart shipping’ and traditional ports are evolving into ‘smart ports’.
Over the past few years, the EU has stepped up its commitment to the Indian Ocean Region, as seen in the “EU Strategy for Cooperation in the Indo-Pacific” (2021), the EU NAVFOR’s participation in the naval mission EU NAVFOR ATALANTA (Gulf of Aden) and the Maritime Situation Awareness Mission EMASoH (Strait of Hormuz), and most recently, the EU Maritime Security Strategy (EU MSS) which was updated in March 2023. The EU is working on increasing a sustained presence of warships in the Indo-Pacific and enhancing its visibility through port-calls. Recent examples include the deployment of the French-led carrier group, the German Navy Frigate Bayern, and most recently, the Italian Offshore-Patrol Vessel, ITS Francesco Morosini. In the Indian Ocean Region, India is the region’s preferred security partner for several States as well as the EU. The EU is also striving for maritime capacity building and capability-enhancement through contemporary initiatives and frameworks such as the “Coordinated Maritime Presences” (CMP). This concept has been enhanced by a new maritime area of interest, i.e., the North-Western Indian Ocean, for which the EU looks to India as a particularly reliable partner.
India’s maritime policy is encapsulated by the acronym ‘SAGAR’ (Security and Growth for All in the Region). First-order-specificity to SAGAR is provided by the IPOI which, through its seven deeply-interconnected ‘pillars’ or ‘spokes’, identifies the lines of effort that need to be progressed to translate SAGAR into tangible outcomes. A few EU member-states have joined the Indo-Pacific Oceans Initiative (IPOI): Italy has taken the joint lead in the ‘Science, Technology and Academic Cooperation’ spoke, France has taken the joint-lead with Indonesia in the ‘Maritime Resources’ spoke, and it has been reliably learnt that Germany has agreed to lead the ‘Capacity Building and Resource Sharing’ spoke of the IPOI. Additionally, avenues for the multilateral and minilateral cooperation between India and the EU are extensive and complex; these include forums such as the Bay of Bengal Initiative for Multi-sectoral Technical and Economic Cooperation (BIMSTEC), the Quadrilateral Security Dialogue (QUAD), Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), etc.
As ‘Maritime Security’ is an essential component of the EU and India’s approach to the Indo-Pacific, it is only fitting that a diverse range of experts, academics, practitioners, policymakers, and stakeholders are brought together in order to identify effective strategies, innovative approaches, and best practices that may — individually or collectively — shape a wiser and more enduring policy. The NMF and the EU-funded ESIWA (Enhancing Security In and With Asia) project are co-organising the 5th edition of the workshop-series which is scheduled on 21 and 22 September 2023 at the National Maritime Foundation, New Delhi. This “Track 1.5” workshop seeks to:
(a) Provide direction, depth, and impetus to the India-EU maritime-security engagement, and
(b) Provide meaningful recommendations for subsequent consideration by formal (“Track 1”) government-level forums engaged in the “India-EU Maritime-Security Dialogue”.
The workshop will also build upon the inputs and recommendations of the previous editions of workshops and formal dialogues. In line with this endeavour, this workshop has been carefully curated against the backdrop of critical geopolitical and security issues in the Indo-Pacific. The themes of this workshop encompass rising geopolitical tensions in the Indian Ocean, engagements in various multilateral and minilateral constructs, hybrid threats, vulnerabilities in submarine cables, digital maritime connectivity, maritime cybersecurity, improvement of connectivity within various Small-Island States, and cooperation and training in the Indian Ocean Region.
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