Experts at a high-level conference in New Delhi on 30 September 2026 called for urgent action to secure maritime highways and build alternative supply routes, warning that geopolitical disruptions have made resilient ocean connectivity a national priority for India and its ASEAN partners. The conference, titled 'Strengthening India-ASEAN Maritime Cooperation in the Indo-Pacific', was organised by the Chintan Research Foundation (CRF).

The Cost of Maritime Disruption

The financial toll of ongoing geopolitical crises on global shipping was laid bare by R Lakshmanan, former Joint Secretary at the Ministry of Ports, Shipping and Waterways. He noted that the cost of hiring a Very Large Crude Carrier (VLCC) has risen nearly 10 times compared to the pre-crisis era, while container shipping rates have gone up five times. “This impacts manufacturing, logistics costs, and overall supply chain resilience,” Lakshmanan said.

He argued that the Information Fusion Centre – Indian Ocean Region (IFC-IOR), the Indian Navy-hosted centre that monitors maritime activity in the region, could be expanded beyond its current security mandate. “We could expand its scope to include the commercial side by involving port authorities and customs agencies, enabling us to track disruptions to trade and commercial shipping and facilitate the sharing of information,” he said.

India–ASEAN Partnership: From Declarations to Outcomes

Ambassador Jaideep Mazumdar underscored that while India–ASEAN maritime cooperation has matured significantly, the central challenge now is operational delivery. “India-ASEAN maritime cooperation has evolved from declaratory alignment into a structured, multidimensional partnership. The challenge now is to translate this convergence into tangible outcomes, building common understandings and joint responses to both anticipated and unforeseen maritime contingencies,” he said.

Vice Admiral Shekhar Sinha (Retd.) reinforced the strategic logic, arguing that open oceans are a prerequisite for shared prosperity. He noted that in an interdependent world, secured seas and safe shipping lanes directly translate into economic growth for all regional stakeholders.

Key Frameworks in Focus

The conference examined how existing frameworks — including the ASEAN Outlook on the Indo-Pacific (AOIP), India’s Indo-Pacific Oceans Initiative (IPOI), the Act East Policy, and MAHASAGAR — can be better aligned and operationalised. Speakers flagged the Strait of Hormuz crisis as a case study in how distant chokepoints can expose interconnected vulnerabilities across energy routes and regional trade corridors.

The conference called for stronger East Coast port capacity, alternative connectivity corridors, maritime domain awareness, and coordinated patrols and exercises. Greater use of ASEAN-led platforms such as the ASEAN Regional Forum (ARF) and ADMM-Plus was also recommended. India’s Andaman and Nicobar Islands were highlighted as a strategic asset requiring deeper engagement through capacity-building and defence cooperation.

Energy and Supply-Chain Resilience

Energy diversification emerged as a recurring theme, with experts warning that over-reliance on single trade or energy corridors leaves both India and ASEAN economies exposed to external shocks. Cooperative mechanisms for Humanitarian Assistance and Disaster Relief (HADR), search-and-rescue operations, and supply-chain security were identified as practical near-term areas for joint action.

Speakers stressed that stronger institutional coordination and crisis preparedness are essential to move from framework alignment to sustained operational outcomes.

Looking Ahead to 2027

With 35 years of the India–ASEAN dialogue partnership approaching in 2027, the conference identified the translation of a well-established cooperation agenda into concrete and continuous deliverables as the defining challenge of the next phase of the relationship.