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Gulf States and the Conflict between India and Pakistan
Ocean nations in Maldives, the countries collectively decided
to launch the South Asian Regional Port Security
Cooperative (SARPSCO). 1 It is an important initiative to
implement collective security in the Indian Ocean to ensure
extra level of protection to trade through this route, and not
to let it become a target for criminals, terrorists, pirates and
weapons’ trade. Therefore, it is considered to be the time for
the revival of the principle of the “zone of peace” in the South
Asian and West Asian context, as most of the security
concerns are mutual, e.g. terrorism, drug and human
trafficking etc. So probably, it is the right time in the 21 st
century to focus on inter-regional security cooperation.
Arab Gulf states and India have also sought to enter into
maritime cooperation agreements. India and Oman are
founding members of the Indian Ocean Rim-Association for
Regional Cooperation (IOR-ARC), of which the UAE is also a
member. It is an international organization with 18 member
states and was first established in Mauritius on March 1995
and formally launched on 6-7 March 1997. The Association
disseminates information on trade and investment regimes,
with a view to helping the region's business community
better understand the impediments to trade and investment
within the region. These information exchanges have been
intended to serve as a base to expand intra-regional trade.
Conclusion
For centuries, there have been close ties between the
countries in the Gulf and South Asia. The relationship that
began with trade links was further enriched with the advent
of Islam and the influence of the Arab and Persian
civilizations could be seen in South Asian communities. In
the most recent past, the two regions have been cooperating
at a much bigger scale through joint ventures mainly in
trade, politics, defence and most recently in agriculture.
Countries in South Asia see the GCC bloc as an economic
partner and this is evident through both India and Pakistan
1
SARPSCO member countries are Bangladesh, Comoros, India,
Madagascar, Maldives, Mauritius, Oman, Pakistan and Sri Lanka.
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