(Image source from: indiatoday.in)

In order to include the western Indian ocean and Arabian sea, the area covered by the Indo-Pacific policy is being increased by India. The Gulf states and Africa are included in the Asean.

The gradual evolving of the new foreign policy concept of India into a hard power attribute that drives the mechanisms that are existing with a new purpose is shown by an overarching strategic imperative to include which the Indo-Pacific is moving beyond economic, cultural and historical linkages.

Foreign minister, S Jaishankar said that, by identifying specific actions that enhances the cooperation on issues of broad interest, a path towards a mutually beneficial and cooperative Indo-Pacific can be started.

“The path toward a mutually beneficial, free, open, inclusive and cooperative Indo-Pacific can begin from identifying specific actions to enhance cooperation on issues of broad interest” said S Jaishankar, foreign minister on Saturday declaring an “incontrovertible geographic logic to the Indo-Pacific.”

Jaishankar suggested that, as there are multiple views on the Indo-Pacific, taking the idea outward in a larger region with all the stake holders would give merit. “India’s approach to this concept led us to recognize that both geographical extremities of the Indo-Pacific and everything in between should ideally have their own indigenously evolved approach to the Indo-Pacific.” Jaishankar said this, as an parting address of the joint Indian Ocean Dialogue and Delhi Dialogue that converged Act East and Indo-Pacific, the foreign policy imperatives of India.

Stretching the geographically strategic area of the Indo-Pacific to encircle not just a region that stretches eastward from India that has Asean as its central focus but India is now including the western Indian Ocean and Africa. “While the nations of the eastern Indian Ocean and states on the connecting seas leading to the Pacific are defining their vision of the Indo-Pacific, there is a room for a western Indian Ocean version of this concept too. In line with our own view that the Indo-Pacific naturally includes our western ocean neighbours in the Gulf, the island nations of the Arabian Sea, and our partners in Africa.”

S Jaishankar addressed the more important tasks as investing time and effort in order to use the Indo-Pacific as an open, free platform for the delivering the tangible and meaningful cooperative initiatives.

“The more important task at hand is to invest time and effort to use the Indo-Pacific as an open, free and inclusive platform to deliver tangible and meaningful cooperative initiatives.”said Jaishankar as he gave a broad direction on the progress of Indo-Pacific.

By Shrithika Kushangi