Indian Ocean Naval Symposium
The Indian Ocean Naval Symposium, commonly known as IONS, is a forum to increase maritime cooperation among the littoral states of the Indian Ocean Region. The forum helps to preserve peaceful relations between nations, and thus is critical to building an effective maritime security architecture in the Indian Ocean Region and is also fundamental to our collective prosperity.
The inaugural IONS Seminar was held by the Indian Navy in 2008. Subsequent seminars and meetings of the ‘Conclave of Chiefs’ have been held at the commencement of each two year IONS Chairmanship: United Arab Emirates in 2010, South Africa in 2012, Australia in 2014, Bangladesh in 2016 and Iran in 2018. In 2020 the IONS Chairmanship rotates to France and in 2022 to Thailand.
IONS includes 24 nations that permanently hold territory that abuts or lies within the Indian Ocean, and 8 observer nations:
Members
South Asian Littorals: Bangladesh, India, Maldives, Pakistan, Seychelles, Sri Lanka and United Kingdom (British Indian Ocean Territory)
West Asian Littorals: Iran, Oman, Saudi Arabia and United Arab Emirates
East African Littorals: France (Reunion), Kenya, Mauritius, Mozambique, South Africa, and Tanzania.
South East Asian and Australian Littorals: Australia, Indonesia, Malaysia, Myanmar, Singapore, Thailand and Timor-Leste.
Observers
China, Germany, Italy, Japan, Madagascar, the Netherlands, Russia and Spain.
Contact
The main point of contact for IONS is the IONS Secretariat. Please refer to the Navy of the current IONS Chair.
The Royal Australian Navy (RAN) continues to participate in IONS and other naval multilateral fora including the long standing Western Pacific Naval Symposium. For further enquires or correspondence, the RAN International Engagement Team can be contacted via
navy.internationalengagement@
Navy International Engagement
Royal Australian Navy
Russell Offices
R1-04-B128
PO Box 7902
Canberra BC ACT 2610
AUSTRALIA
