Navy Chief inaugurates 2nd edition of Goa Maritime Symposium

The second edition of the Goa Maritime Symposium (GSM) 2018, a forum towards fostering friendly relations with the maritime neighbours, was inaugurated by Indian Navy Chief Admiral Sunil Lanba at INS Mandovi in Goa.

The "Naval War College Journal", an academic compendium with ideas and papers from writers and thinkers on maritime strategy and security, was released on the occasion by the Navy Chief. Welcoming the delegates to the seminar, Admiral Lanba reiterated the importance of cooperative engagement to promote maritime security in the Indian Ocean Region (IOR).

The theme of the seminar was "Building Stronger Maritime Partnerships in IOR". The deliberations were focused on capacity building among IOR Navies to tackle emerging maritime threats, in addition to discussing cooperative strategies for enhancing interoperability among partner maritime agencies.

Renowned national/ international speakers articulated their views on these crucial issues, followed by theme based discussions. Eminent scholars and practitioners who spoke on the occasion included, Admiral (Dr) Jayanath Colombage (Retd.) from Sri Lanka, Jane Chan Git Yin from Singapore, Captain Verghese Mathews (India) and Prof. Dattesh DP Parulekar (India). Dr. Jabin Jacob and Rear Admiral Sudarshan Shrikhande (Retd.) moderated the subsequent theme-based discussions.

The international seminar was attended by delegates from countries such as Bangladesh, Myanmar, Mauritius, Sri-Lanka, Singapore, Thailand etc. Country-specific deliberations by senior naval officers from all the participating countries were also held with active sharing of experiences, concerns and perspectives of their respective countries.

The GMS was conceptualized and first held in November 2016 aimed at establishing academic excellence as well as the sharing of ideas among India's maritime neighbours. It also plays a constructive role in bringing together stakeholders involved in evolving strategies, policies and implementation mechanisms in the maritime domain.