Maritime safety, security will be main thrust area of IORA summit: Vice President Ansari

Onboard Air India One [India], Mar. 7 (ANI): Vice President Hamid Ansari, who is in Indonesian capital Jakarta to attend the Indian Ocean Rim Association (IORA) Summit has said maritime safety and security will be the main thrust area of the summit. "The thrust area will be what has already been identified. It is maritime focused gathering so obviously maritime safety and security will be main thrust area and the most important thing is that for RIM countries to be able to cooperate with each other, they need safety and security," Vice President Ansari told a group of journalists accompanying him on his two-day visit. He said piracy and terrorism is also a serious problem that is being facing in western part of the Indian Ocean. "This is the first summit of leaders which is being held at the initiative of the Indonesian President. So we are looking forward to it. We expect that some concrete ideas will emerge from this meeting," he said. Asserting that India has taken lot of initiatives in regards to Blue Economy, Vice President Ansari said New Delhi hosted a meeting some years back in 2011, in which six concrete areas of focused cooperation were decided, one is maritime safety and security, the other is trade and investment, third is management of fisheries, fourth is disaster management, fifth is science and technology and sixth is tourism. Vice President Ansari said he would be calling on the Chairman of the conference, President of Indonesia Joko Widodo during his visit. He said India would reinvigorate its economic and trade relationship with Indonesia and also cooperation in other areas. (ANI)