INDO-PACIFIC REGIONAL DIALOGUE 2025 : DAY 2 PROCEEDINGS

The second day of the Indo-Pacific Regional Dialogue 2025 (IPRD-2025), which began on 28 October 2025, comprised two engaging sessions, both held under the overarching theme of ‘Promoting Holistic Maritime Security and Growth: Regional Capacity-Building and Capability-Enhancement.’ 

The first session on Day Two, anchored in vision MAHASAGAR for the Global South, focused on strengthening Africa’s Integrated Maritime Strategy 2050 (AIMS 2050). Coalescing diverse regional perspectives, the session sought to evolve cooperative strategies for capacity-building and capability enhancement in Africa.  While representation from the Maritime Safety Division of the Djibouti Code of Conduct – Jeddah Amendment (DCoC-JA) added a unique sub-regional dimension to the session, while India’s extensive collaborative efforts in the African littoral were highlighted to demonstrate its contribution to holistic maritime security in the Western Indian Ocean. The session also included presentations by speakers from Indonesia and South Africa. The session was moderated by RAdm KS Rajkumar, Joint Secretary (Navy & Defence Staff) in the Department of Military Affairs, Ministry of Defence.

The second session of the day examined options for strengthening maritime resilience among Indo-Pacific states. It included participants from India, Australia, Philippines, Sri Lanka, and South Korea, who delved into the nuances of maritime supply chain resilience and cooperative approaches to enhance maritime infrastructure. Under the thematic rubric of capacity-building and capability-enhancement, this session stimulated meaningful discussions among the participants and the audience.

In addition to the two professional sessions, the day’s proceedings also included a special address by VAdm G Ashok Kumar (Retd), former Vice Chief of the Naval Staff and former National Maritime Security Coordinator at the NSCS. In his address, VAdm Ashok Kumar highlighted the various Indian initiatives to enhance maritime governance and counter maritime security challenges.  He cited India’s Maritime Anti-Piracy Act of 2022, which has enabled a more robust ‘legal-finish’ for India’s anti-piracy missions. He advocated a stronger push for collaboration in the Indo-Pacific to address the multifarious challenges in the maritime domain. VAdm Kumar also released two new publications of the National Maritime Foundation namely, a book titled ‘Quantum Era Warfare’ and a monograph ‘Forging Strategic Convergence’, the latter written jointly with Indo-Pacific Strategic Intelligence (ISI), a reputed Think Tank in Indonesia.

On the sidelines of IPRD-2025, the National Maritime Foundation, which is the Indian Navy’s knowledge partner for the event, signed two MoUs – one with the Research Institute for Peace and Security (RIPS), Japan, and the other with Pacific RBS, Papua New Guinea, to promote cooperation and collaboration in research on maritime issues of interest between the think tanks.