Strategic Competition in the Western Indian Ocean Region – Crowded Waters in the Western IOR

From 28 to 30 June 2021, the Near East South Asia (NESA) Center for Strategic Studies hosted an event as part of its Indian Ocean Region focused series of engagements. This event centered on exploring strategic competition and its impact throughout the larger Western Indian Ocean Region. Specific themes of the event included the regional competition, global strategic competition, and non-traditional security challenges, illicit networks, climate change, and maritime security. The participants also provided key insights into methodologies by which to enhance regional cooperation.

This workshop is the second iteration of a joint strategic series with its sister center, the Daniel K. Inouye Asia Pacific Center for Security Studies (DKI APCSS). The first iteration was hosted by DKI APCSS in December 2020, which chiefly focused on the eastern half of the Indian Ocean Rim. The second iteration, together with the first event in December of 2020, provides a holistic analysis of the entire Indian Ocean Rim and various factors that inform the larger concept of the Indo-Pacific.

The event had over 60 participants representing 17 different nation states from both within and outside the Indian Ocean Region. NESA Director, LTG (ret) Terry Wolff, and DKI APCSS Director, RADM (ret) Pete Gumataotao, kicked off the event. The course directors for this event were Dr. Hassan Abbas of NESA, Mr. Jeff Payne of NESA, Professor Wade Turvold of DKI APCSS, and Dr. Srini Sitaraman of DKI APCSS.

Read the Strategic Competition in the Indian Ocean Region Workshop (Part II) Final Report [PDF]

Speakers from top left: **Mr. Jeffrey Payne,** Manager of Academic Affairs/Course Director, NESA Center for Strategic Studies, **LTG (Ret) Terry Wolff,** Director, NESA Center for Strategic Studies, **Rear Admiral (Ret) Pete Gumataotao,** Director, Daniel K. Inouye Asia Pacific Center for Security Studies, **CAPT Wade Turvold, Professor,** Daniel K. Inouye Asia Pacific Center for Security Studies, **Mr. William Morrissey**, Lead, Global China & Maritime Futures, National Maritime Intelligence-Integration Office, **Dr. Jonathan Fulton,** Assistant Professor, College of Humanities and Social Sciences, Zayed University, **Dr. Gulbin Sultana,** Research Analyst, Manohar Parrikar Institute for Defence Studies and Analyses, **Dr. Hassan Abbas,** Distinguished Professor of International Relations, NESA Center for Strategic Studies, **Dr. Frederic Grare,** Non-Resident Senior Fellow, South Asia Program Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, **Mr. Syed Muhammad Ali,** Director of Nuclear & Strategic Affairs, Centre for Aerospace & Security Studies (CASS), **Dr. Srini Sitaraman, Professor,** Daniel K. Inouye Asia Pacific Center for Security Studies, **Mr. Henry Tugendhat,** Senior Policy Analyst, China, United States Institute of Peace (USIP), **Dr. Tanvi Madan,** Director – The India Project/Senior Fellow – Foreign Policy, Project on International Order and Strategy Brookings Institution, **Dr. Christopher Colley,** Assistant Professor of Security Studies, **BG (Ret) James T. Hirai,** Deputy Director, Daniel K. Inouye Asia Pacific Center for Security Studies National Defense College, United Arab Emirates

The views presented in this article are those of the speaker or author and do not necessarily represent the views of DoD or its components.