Indian Ocean should not be ‘rivalry playground,' Pakistan says at Aman-25 naval exercise
KARACHI: Pakistan's Planning Minister Ahsan Iqbal said on Monday that the India Ocean should not be made a 'rivalry playground' and it should rather serve as a 'center of opportunities' for all nations as he addressed the concluding session of the AMAN Dialogue at the AMAN-2025 naval exercise in Karachi.
The Indian Ocean, which represents the crossroads of global oil markets, has been the site of geopolitical competition between major powers, including India, China and the United States, which involve economic, military, and political factors.
The US has expanded defense ties with India in recent years and frequently conducted Freedom of Navigation Operations (FONOPS) in the Indian Ocean, especially in areas around India, as part of its strategic partnership with the country, in a bid to counter China's growing maritime assertiveness in the region.
China, which commands the world's largest naval force with more than 370 ships, has developed ports and bases across the Indian Ocean, including in Gwadar in Pakistan, Sri Lanka's Hambantota, and Djibouti in Africa, to promote its trade interests.
'Pakistan prefers collaboration over confrontation and trade over tensions,' Iqbal said at the concluding session of the AMAN Dialogue. 'Indian Ocean should not be the center of tensions and strategic contention, rather it should be a center of opportunities and shared progress.'
The dialogue, hosted by Pakistan on Feb. 9-10 as part of AMAN-2025 naval exercise, focused on security challenges in the Indian Ocean, including strategic competition, piracy, narco-trafficking, non-state actors, resource exploitation, climate change, emerging technologies such as AI and unmanned systems, the blue economy and the need for global collaboration to ensure stability and prosperity.
It brought together chiefs of navies, coast guards and defense forces from several nations, with an aim to provide them an opportunity to exchange views on global and regional security and adopt innovative solutions.
Iqbal called the AMAN Dialogue an example of mutual trust and shared prosperity, which signified Pakistan's commitment toward peaceful maritime sector. He hoped that relations forged at the forum would turn into longstanding partnerships for the betterment of global maritime sector and yield results in shared progress.
Pakistan Navy has conducted the AMAN maritime exercise every two years since 2007 under the theme 'Together for Peace,' involving ships, aircraft and special operations forces. Naval troops and special forces from more than 60 countries have been taking part in this year's exercise, being held on Feb. 7-11.
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