Gurugram, Dec 22 (PTI) Threats like piracy, armed robbery, smuggling, and illegal fishing remain alive in the maritime domain, but the setting up of the Information Fusion Centre – Indian Ocean Region, or IFC-IOR, has helped authorities get “a nuanced understanding” of their trend and pattern, the centre’s director said on Friday.
The IFC-IOR, a one of its kind centre, where International Liaison Officers (ILOs) from foreign countries are stationed for a longer duration in Gurugram, was inaugurated on December 22, 2018 by then defence minister Nirmala Sitharaman.
“Actually, it’s been an interesting journey over the last five years. Whatever we set out to achieve, we already achieved… what we look for is the enhancing of the maritime security in the Indian Ocean Region,” Capt Rohit Bajpai said in an interaction with PTI at the centre.
The IFC-IOR, hosted by the Indian Navy, was established to further maritime safety and security in the Indian Ocean Region, in line with the Centre’s Security and Growth for All in the Region (SAGAR) initiative.
The official made the remarks while interacting with the media on the centre’s fifth anniversary.
A visit to the Navy’s Information Management and Analysis Centre (IMAC), the nodal agency for maritime data fusion, was also arranged on the occasion.
Sources said plans are afoot to evolve IMAC into a National Maritime Domain Awareness centre, with stakeholders from across agencies and ministries.
Capt Bajpai told PTI, “It is an international centre, international collaborative effort, we are looking at the larger good for the community, and the region.” Asked if there were emerging threats in the maritime domain, he said, these five years have give us a “nuanced understanding” of these threats.
“Threats have always been there in the region, and what the government of India has realised is that there is no single agency or organisation that can tackle the amount of threats that are there in the region, because of limited resources, of course,” he said.
So, that is the reason this centre was conceptualised for, to get the partners together and to have a better understanding of the region.
“Threats have always remained, but, now we have a better understanding of those threats, the trends, the patterns, to make sense of the vast amount of information that was available,” Capt Bajpai said.
He said that for some countries priorities may be different but threats of piracy, armed robbery, contraband smuggling, and IUU (Illegal, unreported and unregulated) fishing, remains common to them.
He said, the IFC-IOR has at present 12 international liaison officers from 12 counties, both regional and extra-regional, and “we are looking at enhancing definitely.” “Very soon an ILO from Bangladesh is to join, talks are in progress, in January we should have him here. Another construct we are engaging is the Djibouti Code of Conduct /Jeddah Amendment. They have also shown interest in sending an ILO to us. And, we will be more than happy to receive him. And, that is a construct of East African Countries.
“So, that also should be there in the near future. We have a plan for expansion, and we are looking at, in some years, to have around 40 ILOs,” the director of IFC-IOR said.
The Djibouti Code of Conduct/Jeddah Amendment is an indispensable element of regional maritime safety and security in the western Indian Ocean and Gulf of Aden. To date, the centre has hosted ILOs from Australia, France, Italy, Japan, Maldives, Mauritius, Myanmar, Seychelles, Singapore, Sri Lanka, the UK and the US.
More ILOs are expected to join the endeavour soon, the officer added.
On cyber threat, he said, it is an “emerging challenge,” but the centre is monitoring such incidents very frequently now. “It may become a major challenge in the near future.” Asked about incorporating the Artificial Intelligence into its functioning, he said, “Yes, we have ventured into AI/ML. We have achieved some success. But right now, if you ask AI/ML into maritime domain, it’s not an easy task. We are discussing with our partners, how we can take it forward.” On the MV Ruen incident, he said, the centre provided the information from the shipping owner, and the shipping company, to the Navy, because the owner was concerned about the vessel and the crew, and one of them was injured.
The Navy swiftly responded to a call for help from MV Ruen, the Malta-flagged hijacked vessel, on December 14.
Asked how many such centres exist in the region, he said, the IFC Singapore was among the first such centres to come up in the region, then there is also RMIFC-Madagascar.
“We have a roadmap in front of us … And the best part is there is no competition (with other centres). We talk to each other on a daily basis,” Capt Bajpai said. PTI KND KND VN VN
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