NEW DELHI, Dec 3: India on Monday announced a first-ever summit of navies from 33 nations to bolster regional maritime security along the world’s busiest sea lane in the Indian Ocean.Indian naval commanders outlined details of the summit, the Indian Ocean Naval Symposium, to be held in February in New Delhi.

“In today’s environment, we need to have maritime dominance and partnerships,” Naval chief Sureesh Mehta said. “We see ourselves as a great stabiliser of energy movement through this region and so we have to act.” The countries invited to the India summit had to border the Indian Ocean or have territories there. Nations expected to attend include South Africa, Australia, Bangladesh and Thailand.

More than 100,000 commercial vessels transit through the Indian Ocean each year — 60 per cent of them via a narrow strip of sea between Malaysia and the Indonesian island of Sumatra — many carrying oil supplies to the fast-growing region.

The announcement came two months after a joint naval drill by Australia, India, Japan, Singapore and the United States in the Indian Ocean angered China.

China, the world’s second-largest energy importer, ferries 70 per cent of its oil through the Indian Ocean. India also meets 70 per cent of its energy needs through imports.

“With our interests coinciding in a single sphere, we have to ensure it doesn’t result in conflict,” Mehta said.—AFP