The eighth Indian Ocean Dialogue was held on December 15, 2021.

Key Facts

• The dialogue was jointly hosted by External Affairs Ministry and Indian Council of World Affairs.
• Dialogue was hosted under the theme- “Leveraging Digital Technologies for Health, Education, Development, and Trade in Indian Ocean Rim Association (IORA) Member States”.

Highlights of the address

• During the dialogue, Minister of State for External Affairs Rajkumar Ranjan Singh noted the need of greater collaboration among IORA Member States in order to recover from pandemic.
• He also highlighted the critical role of new and emerging technologies and re-affirmed India’s readiness to collaborate on it.

Indian Ocean Rim Association (IORA)

IORA was formerly known as Indian Ocean Rim Association for Regional Cooperation (IOR-ARC) and Indian Ocean Rim Initiative. It is an international organisation comprising of 23 states which share borders with the Indian Ocean. It is a regional forum, tripartite in nature. It brings together representatives