Indo-Pacific Maritime Surveillance Collaboration should not be seen as militarisation of Quad: MEA

Addressing a special briefing following the 11th Quad Foreign Ministers' Meeting here, MEA Additional Secretary Nagaraj Naidu said the initiative is focused on improving surveillance capabilities in the Indo-Pacific amid growing congestion in international waterways and increasing movement of "dark ships".

"This is the Quad, the Indo-Pacific Maritime Surveillance Cooperation. This surveillance should not be seen as the militarisation of the Quad. Neither is IPMDA, the Indo-Pacific Maritime Domain Awareness," Naidu said.

He said several countries in the Indo-Pacific region lack access to advanced surveillance technologies due to high costs, prompting Quad partners to work together to make such technologies available for wider regional use.

Naidu said under the existing Indo-Pacific Partnership for Maritime Domain Awareness (IPMDA), India receives data through the United States and shares it with friendly nations requiring such inputs for maritime safety and security.

"The additional layer that we have added through the IPMSC is to bring in more technology to bear. So IPMDA will top up with IPMSC, and this will enable us to provide real-time data to partners, particularly and give them an enhanced picture of the kind of vessels that are operating in the waters," he added.

Naidu noted that the focus of the collaboration is to provide a stronger operational picture across maritime spaces in the Indo-Pacific region.

On the "Quad at Sea" initiative, Naidu said that the initiative, launched last year, aims to bring together the Coast Guards of the four Quad countries to improve interoperability and enhance mutual learning.

"This year India will be hosting it. It is to bring the Coast Guards of the four countries together and enhance cooperation. These are the areas where I think Quad can really enhance its learning, and by enhancing its learning, is when we could actually take it back to our Indo-Pacific partners who are looking at good examples," he said.

Quad Foreign Ministers, in a joint statement issued after the meeting, reiterated their commitment to addressing maritime security challenges through coordinated responses.

The statement welcomed India's operationalisation of the Indian Ocean Region programme of the Quad's IPMDA through the Information Fusion Centre - Indian Ocean Region in Gurugram.

The four countries also announced that they would work towards developing a Common Operational Picture across the Indo-Pacific by building on existing IPMDA efforts.

"We will further strengthen our contribution to regional maritime domain awareness by coordination of maritime surveillance efforts through the Indo-Pacific Maritime Surveillance Collaboration (IPMSC), initially in the Indian Ocean Region," the joint statement read.

According to the statement, IPMSC will integrate the latest technological developments to augment IPMDA by enabling Quad partners to share real-time information and provide an enhanced picture of vessels operating across the region in support of a free and open Indo-Pacific.

The ministers also noted that following the first Quad-at-Sea Ship Observer Mission from Palau to Guam in July 2025, India will host the next edition of the mission aimed at strengthening interoperability and knowledge-sharing to tackle unlawful maritime activities in the Indo-Pacific. (ANI)