KARACHI, March 6: Stressing the need for a strategy for optimal exploration of ocean resources under a secure environment, Defence Minister Ahmad Mukhtar said here on Friday that recent economic trends had served to enhance the importance of maritime security.

“Even in today’s world of lightning communications and rapidly evolving technologies, the ocean continues to provide impetus to drive the major part of global trade with the Indian Ocean, the centrestage for power influence,” said Mr Mukhtar while speaking at the International Maritime Conference 2009.

The conference was organised by the National Maritime Policy Research of the Bahria University which is serving as a think-tank for study and analysis since 2007.

The conference on “traditional and non-traditional threats, force postures and extra-regional interests; implications for the Arabian Sea Gulf littorals” is part of Aman-2009 maritime exercise.

Mr Mukhtar said Pakistan stood at the energy corridor for transiting more that 40 per cent of the oil traded in the market, and any instability in the region would have dire consequences for the world.

He assured full government support for initiatives to promote the maritime sector.

Chief of the Naval Staff Admiral Noman Bashir said any destruction of sea routes would adversely affect the global financial system and would have far-reaching consequences for fragile and developing economy.

He emphasised the need for a “collaborative maritime security” approach to tackle the problem of piracy off the coast of Somalia and Malacca Strait, human smuggling and drug trafficking”.

He said that as scarcity of raw materials exhumed from land became more acute, undersea reservoirs would act as final frontier for world’s economic sustenance.

Bahria University Rector Vice Admiral (retd) Mohammad Haroon referred to multiple maritime issues being faced by the region and said that apart from addressing the impact of growing strategic competitions and responsibilities, the conference would also focus on global warming and climate change, especially in the Indian Ocean.

He called for formulating joint mechanism and policies which could effectively manage issues like piracy and human trafficking.
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