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NEW DELHI: India firmly stands for open and rules-based maritime borders in the Indo-Pacific, defence minister Rajnath Singh said on Saturday, in the backdrop of China’s aggressive expansionism in the region.
“We stand for open, free, rules-based maritime borders in the Indo-Pacific, in which no nation, howsoever big, may be allowed to appropriate the global common or exclude others from its fair use,” Singh said.
“We are always ready and forthcoming to work with all like-minded partner countries across various forums towards this endeavour,” he added, delivering the inaugural address during the 18th heads of Asian coast guard agencies meeting here.
Asserting that India has been a peace-loving country that has never invaded a foreign land throughout its history and has always respected universal human values and territorial integrity of other countries, the minister said oceanic space should be respected as a global common for the benefit of all humanity in an environmentally-sustainable way.
India’s shared vision of ‘Sagar’ (security and growth of all in the region), sustainable development goals and rules-based order at sea complement the focused Indian approach of inclusive growth and lasting collaboration in the Indo-Pacific region, Singh said.
He underlined India’s commitment to implement international regulations, enact legislations for maritime safety and security, establish cooperative mechanisms with nations and engage in capacity-building of maritime law enforcement agencies.
“With continued growth in marine traffic, the potential risk of marine pollution and requirement for search and rescue operations consequent to any unwanted maritime incidents have also grown manifold,” he said.
Calling for greater synergy among coast guard agencies of different agencies, he said sharing of domain expertise and seamless operational integration will ensure continuous maritime law enforcement in the region.



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